To assist with the response to COVID-19, 166 Passport Service personnel were redeployed into essential public service roles, such as contact tracing for the HSE, assisting the Department of Social Protection to facilitate the processing of COVID-19 related benefits, providing consular assistance to Irish citizens overseas and assisting the Public Appointments Service.
Two officers from the Passport Service are currently assigned to the Department of Health Mandatory Hotel Quarantine advice line. Officials in my Department are engaging with the Department of Health to return these officers following the recent decision to discontinue the Mandatory Hotel Quarantine advice line. In addition, two officers from the Passport Service remain assigned to the Public Appointments Service to assist with recruitment efforts.
At present, of the 519 staff working in the Passport Service in August 2021, less than one per cent were working from home on a full-time basis, as staff directly involved in customer service and the production of passports are required to work on site.
