Passport Applications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 April 2021

Thursday, 29 April 2021

Questions (53, 55, 56)

Seán Haughey

Question:

53. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the estimated timeframe for clearing the existing passport application backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22545/21]

Seán Haughey

Question:

55. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of applications for passports currently outstanding as of 26 April 2021 or the latest date available for new passports and for renewals, respectively; the number of applicants who are residents overseas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22547/21]

Seán Crowe

Question:

56. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of passports that are currently outstanding as of 26 April 2021 or the latest date available for residents by county; and the number of applications for new passports or for renewals of a passport by county in tabular form . [22550/21]

Written answers

Minister for Foreign Affairs

I propose to take Questions Nos. 53, 55 and 56 together.

In line with the National Framework on Living with COVID-19, the Passport Service continues to provide a high-quality essential service in line with Government measures to reduce social contact and combat the spread of COVID-19.

This essential service is available for those who are required to travel due to the death or serious illness of a family member or meet the criteria for travel as defined in the recent amendment to the Health Act 1947, which came into effect on 1 February 2021. Supporting documentation is required in such cases.

Applicants who require an urgent or emergency passport can contact the Passport Service via our Customer Service Hub Webchat function on our website.

Irish citizens who are resident overseas should continue to contact the Passport Service through the local Irish Embassy or Consulate General who continue to provide assistance to all our citizens abroad.

Staff of the Passport Service continue to produce emergency and urgent applications, to offer customer service through WebChat, to assist with consular assistance for Irish citizens overseas and temporary reassignment of staff to the Department of Health. As well as issuing more than 3,500 urgent and emergency passports, the Passport Service has also issued approximately 45,000 passports since the beginning of the year. Our Webchat team have also responded to approximately 45,000 queries.

At present, there are approximately 90,000 Passport Online applications in the system. The number of applications in the system that are for applicants resident overseas is approximately 36,000. The return to full operations will commence with all applications received via Passport Online. The Passport Service is confident, taking into account measures to ensure a safe workplace, that any Passport Online backlog can be cleared in six to eight weeks.

The approximate number of online applications per county under process currently in the system is set out in the table below.

County	Applications in System
Antrim	4,900
Armagh	1,000
Carlow	400
Cavan	500
Clare	1,000
Cork	4,700
Derry	1,600
Donegal	1,300
Down	3,200
Dublin	17,100
Fermanagh	400
Galway	2,300
Kerry	1,100
Kildare	2,400
Kilkenny	700
Laois	600
Leitrim	300
Limerick	1,800
Longford	300
Louth	1,200
Mayo	1,000
Meath	2,100
Monaghan	400
Offaly	500
Roscommon	500
Sligo	500
Tipperary	1,100
Tyrone	1,200
Waterford	900
Westmeath	800
Wexford	1,100
Wicklow	1,600

The approximate number of online applications per county under process currently in the system, broken down by renewal applications and first time applications, is set out in the table below.

County	Renewal	FTA
Antrim	1,900	3,000
Armagh	500	500
Carlow	300	100
Cavan	400	100
Clare	900	100
Cork	3,900	800
Derry	900	700
Donegal	1,000	300
Down	1,300	1,900
Dublin	13,800	3,300
Fermanagh	200	200
Galway	1,900	400
Kerry	900	200
Kildare	2,000	400
Kilkenny	600	100
Laois	500	100
Leitrim	200	100
Limerick	1,500	300
Longford	200	100
Louth	1,000	200
Mayo	800	200
Meath	1,700	400
Monaghan	300	100
Offaly	400	100
Roscommon	400	100
Sligo	400	100
Tipperary	900	200
Tyrone	600	600
Waterford	700	200
Westmeath	600	200
Wexford	900	200
Wicklow	1,300	300

These figures are correct to 26 April 2021.

There are currently approximately 1,800 paper based applications in the system. It is not possible to break these down by county. The Passport Service plans to resume processing of routine paper based applications such as Passport Express and Northern Ireland Passport Express as a priority once online applications have been processed.