Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 October 2022
90. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will provide a copy of the business case undertaken by his Department on the establishment of a passport office in Belfast; the date on which this work was initiated; the date on which it concluded and if this work was undertaken by officials in his Department or outsourced to another agency, organisation or academic. [52305/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraDemand for passports from Northern Ireland remains steady at an average of 11,000 applications per month. This equates to about 10% of total applications received by the Passport Service.
87% of applicants from Northern Ireland this year have applied through Passport Online and that figure will continue to grow as the Passport Service's Digital First media and communications strategy is rolled out in the coming months.
The passport offices in Mount St and Cork have public counters and offer an urgent appointment service for those who wish to renew their passport within one or four days in Dublin or within four days in Cork.
Of the online applications received from Northern Ireland, about 60% of these are renewals. 84% of adult online renewal applications and almost 50% of child online renewal applications are currently being processed in 3 working days or less, meaning that, for many, the Passport Online service is even faster than the 4 day urgent appointment service offered at our public counters.
The remaining 40% of applications are first time applications and do take longer to process as the person’s identity and entitlement must be verified. Because of the necessary security checks carried out on all first time applications, regardless of their origin, these applications cannot be processed under the urgent appointment system at our public offices.
Recent figures show that just 28% of those urgent appointments are currently being used and applications processed by the public counters in Dublin and Cork amount to only 1% of the total of all passports produced by the Passport Service.
In view of the fact that the overwhelming majority (87%) of passport applicants from Northern Ireland apply online and the considerable benefits of Passport Online for all of our citizens, the Department is of the view that a business case cannot currently be made for opening an additional passport office in Belfast.
The Passport Service continuously considers ways that it can improve its service to all of our citizens regardless of where they live and regularly reviews the range of passport services on offer while also strategically planning to respond to future needs.
Recent analysis of estimated costs to establish and run an additional passport office with approximately 25% of the number of staff currently employed in the main Dublin passport office for one year are outlined in the table below.
|
Staffing |
€3,000,000 |
|
Equipment (high security passport printing and automated mailing machines) |
€6,000,000 |
|
Operational Costs |
€1,000,000 |
|
|
|
|
Total: |
€10,000,000 |
