Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 January 2019
173. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the customer complaints received by his Department in each of the years since 2016; if the complaints are grouped into categories; the nature of the complaints; the resolution of same; and the number of complaints progressed to the relevant Ombudsman in each of the years since 2016. [1873/19]
View answerFrom time to time my Department receives comments from members of the public giving feedback on how we could improve our services both at home and at our Missions abroad. We are committed to constantly improving how we conduct our business and to ensuring that our staff across all offices, both in Ireland and our global network of Embassies and Consulates, act in a highly professional manner at all times.
My Department is fully committed to investigating and responding to every complaint within a timeframe of 20 days. If a complainant is not satisfied with the explanation or the outcome, he or she can request a review by writing to the Central Coordination Unit of the Department.
Within my Department, the Passport Service received more than 733,000 and 780,000 passport applications in 2016 and 2017 respectively. In 2018, in excess of 862,000 applications were received. With this volume of applications, the Passport Service deals with the highest number of customers of any of the Divisions within my Department.
The Passport Service recorded the following number of complaints for the each of the years requested which were addressed directly to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:
|
Year |
No. of complaints |
|
2016 |
25 |
|
2017 |
92 |
|
2018 |
118 |
There were also a number of complaints received via the Office of the Ombudsman, none of which were upheld by that Office:
|
Year |
No. of complaints |
|
2016 |
3 |
|
2017 |
3 |
|
2018 |
10 |
The complaints received fall into the following broad categories:
Communication (e.g: Difficulties in communicating with the office, lack of clear information)
Processing times (e.g: Inadequate processing times)
Customer service (e.g: Poor customer service, errors on Passport data page, loss of documents)
Among the measures taken to ensure improved customer service and, in particular, the management of overall demand and seasonal application increases are the recruitment of additional staff, targeted overtime, re-organisation of production process and administrative arrangements and the continuous implementation of service improvements through the Passport Reform programme.
Each year the Passport Service recruits over 220 Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs) to assist in processing passport applications and deal with the queries from the general public. For 2019, over 230 TCOs will be assigned to the Passport Service to deal with the increased volume anticipated during the peak season. A dedicated Customer Service Hub has been established to deal with queries from the public. The number of staff that will be answering queries in the Customer Service Hub will have trebled since 2016. In addition to the normal seasonal intake of temporary staff, more than 50 additional permanent staff are being assigned to the Customer Service Hub.
The Passport Reform Programme continues to deliver major upgrades to the Passport Service technology platforms and business processes as well as significant customer service improvements. The online passport application service, which was launched in March 2017 for adults renewing their passport, has been expanded to other adult renewal categories and for children since November 2018. This expansion means more than half of all passport applicants are now eligible to renew online. The online passport renewal service bring benefits for customers with faster turnaround times of 10 working days, excluding post. In addition, the costs of renewing a passport online is cheaper than alternative methods, with fees for all online applications reduced by €5 across all application types.
I am satisfied that these additional resources and the improvements in technology will bring about a greater level of customer satisfaction with faster turnaround times and greater access to information.
