Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 March 2025
201. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps he is taking ahead of the late spring, summer and autumn seasons in order to mitigate delays and backlogs in the processing of passport applications and issuing of passports. [13065/25]
View answerThe Passport Service is successfully responding to the current level of demand for passports and has issued over 230,000 passports to date this year. Virtually all complete passport applications are being processed within or before advertised turnaround times and over half of adult renewal applications are processed within 2 working days.
My Department undertakes extensive advance workforce planning based on forecasted demand for passports on an annual basis. The staff requirement to meet forecasted demand for the coming year is signed off annually by the Department's Management Board. As a result of this planning the Passport Service is well-resourced to meet forecasted demand for 2025.
From 2020 to 2025, the number of staff in the Passport Service has increased from 615 to 862, a significant increase in staffing. Ensuring that we have enough staff to respond to demand is a key priority for my Department and is kept under constant review.
The first half of the year is busiest time for the Passport Service and to meet the demand of this busy season, 129 Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs) have joined the Passport Service since 20 November 2024. These officers work on processing passports and assisting customers who contact the Customer Service Hub.
I would ask the Deputy to encourage his constituents to apply for their passports through Passport Online, as the quickest, easiest and most cost effective way to apply for a passport. The Passport Online service allows citizens to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Passport Online is available to 99.9% of all applicants globally. As a matter of best practice, applicants should check the validity of their passport before booking travel.
