Brendan Smith
Ceist:121. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs when a Passport Office will be established in the province of Ulster; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28421/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 1 June 2022
Ceisteanna (121)
Freagraí scríofa
The Passport Service is a unified service composed of three constituent offices located in Lower Mount Street and Balbriggan in Dublin and South Mall in Cork, respectively. Passport applications from all citizens - whether at home or abroad - are distributed for processing across the three Passport Offices, on the basis of the type of application rather than the place of residence of the applicant.
Over 90% of all passport applications, including first time applications, are now being made through Passport Online and Passport Online is available to 97% of all applicants across the world. The Passport Service is committed to continuing to offer a range of application channels, including an offline service for citizens who are not eligible or do not wish to use the Passport Online service.
Passport Online is the priority channel for applications as there are many efficiencies built into the system for both the applicant and the Passport Service. The Passport Online service offers Irish citizens the ability to apply online for their passport 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is a user-friendly, efficient service that consistently offers processing times up to 4 times faster than paper-based passport renewal applications.
The paper-based, mail-in "Post Passport" service is available to citizens at almost 1,000 An Post post offices. A paper-based, mail-in service is also available at over 70 post office locations in Northern Ireland. The Passport Service continues to see a steady, but increasing demand for passports from citizens in Northern Ireland. With the availability of both Passport Online and the postal application channel, very few applicants are required to travel a significant distance in order to apply for their passport.
In the relatively small number of cases where citizens need to travel urgently and do not have a valid passport, the Passport Offices in Dublin and Cork offer an Urgent Appointment service for passport renewal with a 1 or 4-day turnaround. The Passport Service offices in Dublin and Cork have processed over 5,000 Urgent Appointments to date in 2022. These Urgent Appointment applications represents just 0.9% of the total 540,000 applications received by the Passport Service since January of this year.
I am satisfied overall that the range of service options available meets the current needs of passport applicants and that recent service improvements allow the Passport Service to provide this essential citizen service in an efficient and effective manner. While there are no plans to open additional passport offices, the Passport Service will continue to consider ways in which to enhance customer experience for citizens.