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Passport Applications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020

Wednesday, 3 June 2020

Questions (23, 27)

Frank Feighan

Question:

23. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when the passport office will reopen and begin processing passport applications again; when an application will be processed for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8653/20]

View answer

Marian Harkin

Question:

27. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when passport applications will begin to be processed again; the status of the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9005/20]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 27 together.

With the commencement of the COVID-19 public health emergency and the introduction of widespread travel restrictions both nationally and internationally, Irish citizens have ceased nearly all non-essential travel. This has led to a large decrease in the number of passport applications received by the Passport Service, including a decrease in applications received from applicants.

In response to this situation, the Passport Service is operating an essential, emergency service at this time. This has allowed us to both reassign staff to our consular services assisting our citizens abroad and redeploy staff to critical areas including contact tracing for the HSE and COVID-19 payments for Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, all critical services at this time.

The Passport Service continues to process emergency passports for our citizens at home and abroad. Almost 350 passports have issued to our citizens both at home and abroad in response to urgent requests. Our webchat service and a dedicated travel emergency mailbox continue to operate through which we can be contacted in such circumstances. In addition, our phones lines have answered over 16,000 calls from Irish citizens overseas as part of the Department’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Passport Service staff cannot work remotely, they must be on site in order to process passport applications. This is to protect the personal data of the applicant and the integrity of the Irish Passport System.

The Global Irish Services Division of the Department is now focused on returning to a point when we can provide a full passport service. We will endeavour to do so as quickly as possible, while providing our staff with a safe working environment and in line with the Government’s Roadmap to reopen Ireland’s economy and society. The protection of staff is our first priority but we also recognise that providing passports is an essential public service. I encourage Deputies to stay in contact with my office for updates in relation to the Passport Service.

An officer from the Passport Service has spoken directly to the person in question regarding their application.

Questions Nos. 24 and 25 answered with Question No. 16.
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