Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 May 2022
260. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the issues that his Department is encountering with the provision of first-time passports; and the number waiting for passports by county and by country in tabular form. [25544/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Passport Service is proactively managing the current demand for passports, particularly first time passports, and has put in place resources and structures to address the estimated significant increase in demand for passports in 2022 in this essential citizen service.
Since March of this year, the Passport Service has reduced the processing time for first time applications from 40 working days to 30 working days. This 25% reduction in processing time is as a direct result of the unprecedented level of investment that my Department has made in the Passport Service in terms of additional staff and improvements to the passport processing and customer service systems.
Over 460,000 passports have been issued to date in 2022, compared to a total of 634,000 passports issued in 2021. 117,000 passports were issued in April alone with 45% of adult renewal passports being issued within one to two working days.
Passport Service figures show that of the total number of passport applications in the system, 61% are fully complete and are being processed by the Passport Service. The other 39% of applications are incomplete, which means the Passport Service is waiting for the applicant to submit the necessary documentation required. While the Passport Service makes every effort to contact applicants in such circumstances, their experience is that many applicants take weeks and sometimes months to send in the necessary documents. Applications that are incomplete cannot be processed within the average turnaround times.
First-time passport applications take longer to process than renewal applications and there are a number of reasons for this. First-time applications are necessarily complex to process, since, in many cases, they are applications for Irish citizenship. The passport service must validate the true identity of the applicant and take measures to confirm his or her entitlement to Irish citizenship. It is the statutory responsibility of the passport service to protect the integrity of the Irish passport. Accordingly, a rigorous analysis process is in place to verify the identity and citizenship status of first-time applicants. In the case of first-time passport applications for children, the consent of guardians must also be thoroughly validated. Due to the intensive analysis and extra measures undertaken by highly trained and experienced staff, first-time applications take 30 working days to process.
The biggest cause of delays for first time applications is where incorrect or insufficient supporting documentation is submitted by the applicant. The Passport Service encourages applicants to check the requirements for their type of application carefully on my Department's website. The recently updated website includes a new Passport Service section where applicants can easily find out what additional documents are required for their type of application. The Passport Service is also working on public education materials, including video tutorials, with a view to assisting applicants to complete their application correctly. These videos will be shared on social media and will include instructions on submitting consent forms for child applications properly.
The Passport Service is taking a number of additional steps to deal with increased demand on its services:
- The Passport Service has a comprehensive plan to ensure that adequate staff, accommodation and technology supports are in place to meet expected demand for passports in 2022.
- A major recruitment drive has been underway over the past several months, which has seen the number of Passport Service staff increase by over 300 since June 2021.
- The Passport Service is currently running its own recruitment competition for Temporary Clerical Officers. This recruitment effort will bring staffing numbers to over 900, which represents a doubling of staff compared to June 2021.
- Intensive training of new staff and upskilling of existing staff is underway to increase the resources that can process complex applications, such as first time child applications.
- The Passport Service is prioritising first time applications and directing increased resources to processing these complex applications with a view to reducing the current turnaround time. Passport Service staff are working targeted overtime in this regard.
- The Urgent Appointment Service is available for customers who wish to renew their passport at short notice. Customers availing of this service can renew their passport within 1 or 4 days in Dublin, within 4 days in Cork and within 5 days in London.
- In February, the Passport Service increased the number of appointments at its public offices by 100%, providing an extra 170 Urgent Appointments per week.
- A new document management system was put in place at the beginning of March. This aims to improve the processing speed in the Passport Service offices, and subsequent turnaround times for the applicant. One particular feature of the new system improves the processing time for applicants who have been asked to submit additional documents. Once the additional documents are received, they are being prioritised and complete applications can then be processed in 3 weeks. This significantly reduces the processing time, particularly for first time applicants.
- Public information media campaigns reminding citizens to check and renew their passports will continue during this busy year.
I am confident that the measures that have been implemented will help to reduce passport turnaround times in the course of 2022, particularly for first time applications, and will assist the Passport Service in meeting the high demand forecast for this year.
I strongly urge anyone who is considering travelling overseas this year, particularly families with young children, to check the validity of their passports before booking travel and to apply for their passports online in plenty of time.
The information requested by the Deputy is outlined in tabular form below:
|
County |
Total applications in system |
Being processed by Passport Service |
Awaiting further action by applicant |
|
Antrim |
6,123 |
3,541 |
2,582 |
|
Armagh |
1,530 |
959 |
571 |
|
Carlow |
486 |
244 |
242 |
|
Cavan |
556 |
264 |
292 |
|
Clare |
749 |
387 |
362 |
|
Cork |
3,691 |
1,948 |
1,743 |
|
Derry |
2,269 |
1,362 |
907 |
|
Donegal |
1,102 |
579 |
523 |
|
Down |
4,593 |
2,712 |
1,881 |
|
Dublin |
9,253 |
4,850 |
4,403 |
|
Fermanagh |
447 |
280 |
167 |
|
Galway |
1,920 |
994 |
926 |
|
Kerry |
892 |
471 |
421 |
|
Kildare |
1,660 |
913 |
747 |
|
Kilkenny |
648 |
327 |
321 |
|
Laois |
582 |
317 |
265 |
|
Leitrim |
222 |
123 |
99 |
|
Limerick |
1,288 |
698 |
590 |
|
Longford |
279 |
132 |
147 |
|
Louth |
1,010 |
518 |
492 |
|
Mayo |
888 |
484 |
404 |
|
Meath |
1,545 |
821 |
724 |
|
Monaghan |
450 |
242 |
208 |
|
Offaly |
507 |
279 |
228 |
|
Roscommon |
396 |
210 |
186 |
|
Sligo |
446 |
230 |
216 |
|
Tipperary |
1,040 |
570 |
470 |
|
Tyrone |
1,706 |
1,019 |
687 |
|
Waterford |
850 |
467 |
383 |
|
Westmeath |
686 |
381 |
305 |
|
Wexford |
1,106 |
553 |
553 |
|
Wicklow |
1,059 |
569 |
490 |
|
Country |
Total number of applications in system |
Being processed by Passport Service |
Awaiting further action by applicant |
|
Afghanistan |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Albania |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Antigua And Barbuda |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Australia |
1,874 |
769 |
1,105 |
|
Austria |
32 |
20 |
12 |
|
Bangladesh |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Belgium |
82 |
43 |
39 |
|
Bulgaria |
6 |
4 |
2 |
|
Canada |
1,051 |
526 |
525 |
|
Canary Islands |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Chile |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Colombia |
10 |
6 |
4 |
|
Croatia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Cyprus |
16 |
12 |
4 |
|
Czech Republic |
19 |
6 |
13 |
|
Denmark |
44 |
19 |
25 |
|
Ecuador |
4 |
1 |
3 |
|
Estonia |
4 |
0 |
4 |
|
Finland |
34 |
17 |
17 |
|
France |
406 |
230 |
176 |
|
Georgia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Germany |
298 |
155 |
143 |
|
Gibraltar |
27 |
11 |
16 |
|
Greece |
18 |
11 |
7 |
|
Guernsey |
39 |
26 |
13 |
|
Hungary |
18 |
11 |
7 |
|
Iceland |
4 |
4 |
0 |
|
India |
5 |
1 |
4 |
|
Isle Of Man |
68 |
40 |
28 |
|
Italy |
71 |
31 |
40 |
|
Japan |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Jordan |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Latvia |
4 |
3 |
1 |
|
Lithuania |
9 |
4 |
5 |
|
Luxembourg |
17 |
11 |
6 |
|
Malta |
15 |
9 |
6 |
|
Mauritius |
4 |
0 |
4 |
|
Moldova, Republic Of |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Netherlands |
134 |
66 |
68 |
|
New Zealand |
369 |
166 |
203 |
|
Nigeria |
25 |
3 |
22 |
|
Norway |
49 |
25 |
24 |
|
Pakistan |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Panama |
9 |
2 |
7 |
|
Peru |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Philippines |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Poland |
65 |
45 |
20 |
|
Portugal |
44 |
22 |
22 |
|
Romania |
9 |
7 |
3 |
|
Russia |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Singapore |
33 |
18 |
15 |
|
Slovak Republic |
10 |
3 |
7 |
|
Slovenia |
5 |
3 |
2 |
|
Somalia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
South Africa |
76 |
25 |
51 |
|
Spain |
338 |
179 |
159 |
|
Sri Lanka |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Sweden |
134 |
80 |
54 |
|
Switzerland |
151 |
91 |
60 |
|
Syrian Arab Republic |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
Turkey |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
United Kingdom |
24,872 |
13,239 |
11,633 |
|
United Republic Of Tanzania |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
United States |
4,668 |
2,387 |
2,281 |
|
Zimbabwe |
4 |
0 |
4 |
