Alan Kelly
Question:69. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if an application for a passport by a person (details supplied) will be expedited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36683/21]
View answerWednesday, 7 July 2021
Questions (69)
Written answers
The Passport Service commenced the scaling up of operations on 4 May 2021 in line with the phased easing of restrictions set out in “COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Plan Ahead”.
The Service has been focused since then on four priority areas.
- Clearing the COVID-19 backlog of 89,000 passport applications.
- Processing all adult renewal applications (including new applications) within 10 working days.
- Processing urgent and emergency applications.
- Providing of customer services through phone and web chat.
Very substantial progress has been made in clearing the COVID-19 backlog with backlog applications that were completed properly have been processed and passports issued. Of the incomplete applications, the Passport Service have been in contact with the applicants regarding the need to send in outstanding documents. Once all outstanding required documentation is received, issuance of passports will follow.
Our phone and web chat services are available to all people whose passport applications have unfortunately been affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
The Passport Service have advised that they have been in direct contact with this applicant to provide an update on the status of the application.