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Passport Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 February 2022

Thursday, 24 February 2022

Questions (279)

Éamon Ó Cuív

Question:

279. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there are issues and delays updating the passport tracking system; if so, when the system is likely to be made fully functional again in order that applicants can monitor the progress of their applications as they are finding it difficult to get in contact with the Passport Office by telephone; the reason, despite the additional staff that he said would be recruited to the Passport Office in January 2022, that there are still significant delays in processing passport applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10568/22]

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Written answers

The online Passport Tracker tool provides applicants with an indication of how their application is progressing through the system and gives an estimated issue date based on the current average application processing time.

The Passport Service regrets that the Passport Tracker recently experienced technical issues which resulted in the tracker not correctly updating a small number of applications. This issue has been identified and is now fixed. While it has not been possible to immediately update all affected applications on the tracker, this will happen automatically when these applications reach the next stage of the process. The passport service apologies for any inconvenience caused to applicants who have been affected.

Applicants who wish to receive an update on the status of their passport application can contact the Customer Service Hub at (01) 6711633 or via Webchat on my Department's website (www.dfa.ie/passports). The Passport Service Customer Service Hub officers respond to customer queries by phone and webchat as well as enquiries related to Emergency Passport cases. The Customer Service Hub are currently handling over 5,000 customer contacts each week. During times of high demand, there can be delays in getting through to a service agent due to the volumes of enquiries. The Passport Service webchat is also operational and customers should refresh the page if the icon is grey. A webchat operator is available when the icon is green.

My Department has been pro-actively planning to ensure the necessary resources are in place to meet the current and expected level of demand in 2022 and is making an unprecedented investment in the Passport Service in terms of additional staff and improvements to the passport processing and customer service systems.

My Department is working with the Public Appointments Service on a major recruitment drive that has been underway for several months. Since June of 2021, over 300 members of staff at all grades have been assigned to the Passport Service. Additional staff are being assigned on a weekly basis with a goal of reaching staff numbers of 900 by the end of March. This represents a doubling of staff numbers over the course of 9 months. 109 new staff joined the Passport Service in the month of January. This is slightly lower than the estimate that was originally provided, as not all assignments that had been offered were accepted by candidates.

The Passport Service is implementing a number of further measures that will positively impact the current turnaround times and improve customer service:

- Intensive training of new staff and upskilling of existing staff is underway to increase the resources that can process complex applications.

- The Passport Service is actively prioritising first time applications and directing increased resources to processing these complex applications with a view to reducing the current turnaround time.

- A new document management process is being put in place that allows for a much quicker turnaround time when an applicant is asked to submit additional documents. Once these documents are received, they will be prioritised and complete applications will be processed in 3 weeks. This will greatly reduce the waiting time for applicants who are missing documents in their initial application.

In January 2022, the Passport Service received over 137,000 new passport applications. This is the highest volume of monthly applications ever received and indicates that there is pent-up demand for passports following the relaxation of necessary travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Passport Service estimates that up to 1.4 million passport applications will be received this year. Previous predictions for 2022 estimated a volume of 1.7m. However, for now this number has decreased due to the volume of passport renewal applications received in late 2021. The prediction for the number of passport applications in 2022 remains subject to review and the first six months of the year are still forecasted to remain very busy with most of the reduction in forecasted volume seen in the second half of the year.

While there is a very high volume of applications in the system, this does not represent a backlog. There is a continuous stream of new applications and a continuous dispatch of completed passports happening every day. Figures show that there are currently 90,000 applications that are fully complete and are being processed by the Passport Service. There are also 70,000 applications in the system where the Passport Service is waiting for the customer to complete the application. In these cases, the onus is on the customer to submit the required documents to the Service. While the Passport Service makes every effort to contact applicants in such circumstances, their experience is that many applicants take weeks and sometimes months to send in the necessary documents.

The current passport processing times are:

- 10 working days for Simple Adult online renewals

- 15 working days for Complex or child online renewals

- 40 working days for First Time Applications on Passport Online

- 8 weeks for An Post’s mail-in “Passport Express” service

The Passport Service is currently experiencing high demand for first time passports, particularly for children. First time passport applications do take longer to process and there are a number of reasons for this:

- It is important to check the applicant’s identity and their entitlement to Irish citizenship. The Irish passport was recently ranked 5th in the Henley Global Passport Index as it provides our citizens with visa-free access to 187 countries. This is something we can all be proud of. However, in order to maintain this ranking and to protect the integrity of the Irish passport, the Passport Service must validate the true identity of the applicant and take measures to confirm the applicant’s entitlement to Irish citizenship. Accordingly, a rigorous analysis process is in place to verify the identity and citizenship status of first time applicants.

- In the case of children, it is essential that the Passport Service verifies the consent of the child’s guardians before a passport can issue. This ensures that the Passport Service protects the rights of the child and their guardians.

- Due to the intensive analysis and extra measures undertaken by highly trained and experienced staff, first time applications take 40 working days to process.

The Passport Service is currently processing 45% of adult online renewal application in one working day, while 99% of online child renewal passports are issued within the advertised processing time of 15 working days.

The processing times for a standard online renewal passport applications compare very favourably to processing times internationally in countries such as the UK, United States, Canada and Australia.

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