Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 September 2023
10. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs how many passports applications were processed over June, July and August 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41708/23]
View answer45. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs for an update on passport applications and processing times presently; how many applications were processed this year; how many are outstanding and currently in waiting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41555/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 45 together.
The Passport Service is successfully meeting the current high demand for passports.
Thanks to significant investment by the Government and the dedicated work of the Passport Service staff, all turnaround times are at their target level and there are no backlogs. Almost 800,000 passports have been issued to date in 2023 and forecasts indicate that the Passport Service will issue around 1 million passports this year. The Passport Service Customer Service Hub has handled almost 500,000 queries to date.
I can inform the Deputy that the Passport Service issued just over 250,000 passports during the months of June, July and August. 100,375 passports were issued in June, while 81,363 passports were issued in July and 71,513 issued in August.
There are currently 93,000 passport applications in the Passport Service 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.
Passport Service figures show that 38,000 or 40% of these applications are fully complete and are being processed by the Passport Service. The other 60% of applications are incomplete, which means the Passport Service is waiting for the applicant to submit the necessary documentation required.
The Passport Service contacts all applicants whose applications are incomplete to let them know what additional steps are required. However, it can sometimes take weeks or even months for the documents required to be submitted so that the application can progress.
The current passport processing times are:
• 10 working days for Simple Adult online renewals
• 15 working days for Complex or child online renewals
The highest number of applications are for online adult renewals. Over half of these are issued within two days.
The current turnaround for first time online applications is 20 working days. This turnaround time has halved since February 2022, when it took 40 days to process a first time online application.
The turnaround time for all paper applications, for first time or renewals, is 8 weeks. While only 10% of applications are submitted via paper channels, 26% of passport processing staff are currently assigned to this work. This is due to the inefficiencies of the paper channel both for the Citizen and the Passport Service.
This year, the Passport Service has implemented a number of measures to assist passport applicants.
These include:
• An upgrade to the Passport Online platform which provides first time applicants with a personalised list of the documents they need to submit.
and
• A partnership with the General Register Office (GRO) that allows the Passport Service to digitally access birth certificates for children born in Ireland. Families no longer need to submit physical birth certificates. Since this upgrade went live earlier this year, over 30,000 digital birth certificates have been accessed by the Passport Service through the GRO.
Passport Online is now by far the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to apply for a passport. It is an award winning online platform, which places the Irish Passport Service amongst the most innovative in the world.
Last week, the Passport Service rolled out Passport Online for first time applicants to an additional 25 countries, including Turkey, Argentina and Mozambique. This rollout has continued this week with countries such as Kenya and Iraq coming online. This means that Passport Online can now be used by 99.9% of all passport applicants worldwide.
The Passport Service continues to be in an excellent position to meet the demand forecast for the remainder of this year. I would ask all Deputies to encourage your constituents to apply online for the quickest, cheapest and most efficient service.
