Cormac Devlin
Ceist:274. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of passports awaiting processing by month from January 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34431/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 29 June 2021
Ceisteanna (274)
Freagraí scríofa
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.
- Provision of customer services through phone and WebChat.
We appreciate the public’s understanding as we continue to scale up our operations to process both the COVID-19 backlog and new applications and our goal is to return to normal, pre-COVID levels of operation as soon as possible.
During the period to which the Deputy refers, approximately 288,000 applications have been received by the Passport Service and 249,000 passports were issued.
The total number of passport applications received and passports issued since 1 January 2021 is set out in the table below.
|
2021 |
Applications Received |
Total Passports Issued |
|
January |
31,300 |
8,800 |
|
February |
25,800 |
7,700 |
|
March |
38,500 |
17,800 |
|
April |
46,200 |
34,200 |
|
May |
84,800 |
108,400 |
|
June |
61,800 |
71,600 |
|
Total |
288,400 |
248,500 |
At this time, there are 102,000 applications in our system. This total comprises of COVID-19 backlog applications amounting to 37,000, some of which were received in 2020, and 65,000 new applications received since 4 May 2021.
Of the 102,000 applications, approximately 60,000 are valid and those citizens are in line to receive passports or passport cards, respecting the priority being given to COVID-19 backlog applications. Of these 60,000 valid applications, 15,000 are for passports cards which have been approved and are awaiting production. These customers have already received their passport book.
The remaining 42,000 applications on hand are incomplete applications and we have been in contact with the applicants regarding the need to send in outstanding documents. Once the Passport Service receives all outstanding required documentation, issuance of passports will follow.
The Passport Service do not have any passport books waiting to be processed as these are dispatched to customers within a short period of time following approval of their application.
Question No. 275 answered with Question No. 269.