Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their comments. Some 350,000 passports have issued to date this year. All turnaround times are at their target levels and there are no backlogs. The customer service hub is responding to over 3,000 queries per day and it has handled over 200,000 queries to date in 2023. The Department of Foreign Affairs website includes a dedicated passport service section where applicants can easily find out what additional documents are required for their applications.

Perhaps it is evidence of his diligent constituency work but Deputy O'Connor has identified an area for his constituents to get an additional bump up in the queue. We are constantly looking at ways to improve this and we will go back and see what we can do. This approach of assisting applicants at the beginning with videos and bespoke guides is the way to go.

By the way, Tramore is not a bad place for a holiday location and I am sure Deputy Butler would welcome that.

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