Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
117. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the estimated cost in a full year if the passport application fee was reduced to €60 for persons over 75 years of age based on 2017 figures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50178/18]
View answerThe Passport Service does not provide a reduced fee to any category of adult applicant for a passport, whether for the renewal of a passport or for a first time application. A reduced fee is applied on applications for passports for minors in recognition of the fact that a minor’s passport is valid for only five years. Most adult passports will be issued for a period of ten years.
I have asked my staff to review the cost of the standard ten year adult Irish passport and to compare it to the cost of a similar passport in many other jurisdictions. I am satisfied that, at a cost of €80, which breaks down to €8 per year, the Irish passport fee compares favourably with the services offered elsewhere. For example, an adult would have to pay €8.20 per year for a British passport, €8.60 per year for a French passport, €9.75 per year for an American passport and €18.10 per year for an Australian passport.
Based on 2017 application volumes, the Passport Service has calculated the potential annual cost of reducing the passport application fee to €60 for applicants over 75 years of age to be just under half a million euros. Given that any shortfall in revenue would have to be met by the taxpayer, a decision to waive or reduce the application fee for any category of applicant would require careful consideration. It is important to ensure that the major upgrades to the passport service technology platforms and business processes as well as significant customer service improvements which have taken place in recent years can be maintained and further developed.
In the context of the services provided by the Passport Service, I would like to draw attention to the well-advanced Passport Reform Programme, one element of which is the Online Passport Renewal Service which was launched on 30 March 2017. To date over 298,000 adults have renewed their passport using this online facility.
The Online Passport Renewal Service has recently expanded to include the online renewal of children’s passports, to introduce a passport card for children and to expand the cohort of adults eligible to renew online. The service brings significant benefits for citizens with faster turnaround times of 10 working days for all online applications, excluding postage. In addition, the cost of renewing a passport online is significantly cheaper than alternative methods, with fees for all online applications being reduced by €5 across all application types. The expanded service is now available to all adults and children who wish to renew their passport.
Whilst the online service does not distinguish between applicants based on age, applicants can be assured that the online system will be the cheapest as well as the most efficient, secure and convenient way to apply to renew their passport.
