Matt Carthy
Question:106. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has conducted an assessment on the feasibility of opening a Passport Office in Northern Ireland. [57719/22]
View answerTuesday, 22 November 2022
Questions (106)
Written answers
Demand for passports from Northern Ireland remains steady, equating to about 10% of total applications received by the Passport Service.
87% of applicants from Northern Ireland this year have applied through Passport Online and that figure will continue to grow as the Passport Service's Digital First media and communications strategy is rolled out in the coming months.
The passport offices in Mount St and Cork have public counters and offer an urgent appointment service for those who wish to renew their passport within one or four days in Dublin or within four days in Cork.
Of the online applications received from Northern Ireland, about 60% of these are renewals. 84% of adult online renewal applications and almost 50% of child online renewal applications are currently being processed in 3 working days or less, meaning that, for many, the Passport Online service is even faster than the 4 day urgent appointment service offered at our public counters.
The remaining 40% of applications are first time applications and do take longer to process as the person’s identity and entitlement must be verified. Because of the necessary security checks carried out on all first time applications, regardless of their origin, these applications cannot be processed through the urgent appointment system at our public offices.
Applications processed by the public counters in Dublin and Cork amount to only 1% of the total of all passports produced by the Passport Service and recent figures show that just 28% of those urgent appointments are currently being availed of.
In view of the fact that the overwhelming majority (87%) of passport applicants from Northern Ireland apply online and the considerable benefits of Passport Online for all of our citizens, the Department is of the view that a business case cannot currently be made for opening an additional passport office in Belfast.
The Passport Service continuously considers ways that it can improve its service to all of our citizens regardless of where they live and regularly reviews the range of passport services on offer while also strategically planning to respond to future needs.