Passport Services Dail Éireann — 2023-04-27 ============================================================ James O'Connor (FF), Cork East I want to ask about and bring to the attention of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the passport applications that are unsuccessful and the administrative issue that arises where an unsuccessful application is notified quite late in the process. The process does not necessarily allow applicants to amend the errors and there is a lack of an efficient and effective system in place should they wish to correct the errors and get their passports on time, which causes disruption in travel. Do the Department or the Minister have any feedback on that matter? Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal I propose to take Questions Nos. 304 and 305 together. The National Planning Framework (NPF) is the long-term, 20 year strategy for the spatial development of Ireland to promote a better quality of life for all, with sustainable economic growth and an environment of the highest quality as key underlying principles. The NPF, which was published in 2018, replaced the National Spatial Strategy and is the overall spatial planning and development strategy for Ireland. The NPF has set out to achieve a new region-focused strategy for managing Ireland’s growth, linking it to the National Development Plan, supported by stronger and more environmentally focused planning at local level. It is important to note that the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (as amended) includes in-built mechanisms to allow for regular revision and replacement of the NPF. Such revisions are relevant to reflect changing circumstances that have taken place since the NPF was published. The Act requires the Government to either revise, replace or state why the Government has decided not to revise, every 6 years after the publication of the NPF. Section 20C (5) specifically states that: “every 6 years after the date of publication of the National Planning Framework, the Government shall either – (a) Revise the framework or replace it with a new one, or (b) Publish a statement explaining why the Government has decided not to revise the framework and include in the statement an indication of a date by which it will be revised or a new National Planning Framework will be published”. There is also a Programme for Government commitment to the statutory mandate to update the NPF in 2024. In that context, initial preparatory work for the first revision to the NPF is currently underway. An in-house team has been established within my Department who are tasked with developing a proposed roadmap, determining the scope of the potential revision and examining all of the related governance and operational requirements, should Government make a decision to revise the NPF. In that regard, it is my intention to submit a Memorandum to Government on this matter in the coming weeks. James O'Connor (FF), Cork East The reason this is being raised is that we all know about the chaos that ensues when something goes wrong with a passport applications. As Deputies, we were all inundated with queries about that and the Minister's answer is perfectly justified in terms of the backlog that is there and that we are dealing post Brexit with people seeking Irish citizenship and passports, as well as the administrative issues around Covid-19 with people not applying. There was a staggeringly large number of people trying to get their passports at that time. The point I am making is genuine and it affects a small and limited number of people. It can often be the ruination of people’s holiday plans and they only find out at the last minute that these errors have cost them their passports. Mary from Turner's Cross might have to cancel her trip to Tenerife and end up in Tramore if these things are not solved. The reason I am bringing this forward is that there is an opportunity to make a minor change, in time and when the backlog dies down, that will allow these amended errors to be dealt with a little more swiftly. This would enable a more efficient and fair system and it would mean people would not have to miss out on their international travel plans. Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central There is no backlog at the moment; none. Phone calls are being dealt with very quickly; within two to three minutes. As I said earlier in my replies, the longest wait for a call to be returned last week was five minutes and 350,000 passports have been issued this year. What can we do to help first-time applicants, including helping them to complete their applications correctly? A recent upgrade to the passport online platform provides first-time applicants with a bespoke list of the documents they need to submit, which is customised for the applicant's specific circumstances. As I said earlier, we also offer video guides to assist citizens in submitting their correct photos. The general registration office system is quite significant and you can now do the birth certificate with the Passport Office, avoiding the need for a physical birth certificate to be sent. We are constantly trying to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this. The issue will be that as applications come in, they go into a queue. The Deputy has raised this issue and I will talk again to the Passport Office officials because they are constantly looking at ways to make this better and more customised for the customer who is applying for the passport. James O'Connor (FF), Cork East Maybe there is not a backlog as such but the processing times for the applications, particularly for first-time applications, are what I am coming at. I accept there are systems in place and I acknowledge the fantastic and phenomenal work that is being done by officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs to try to cut down on waiting times, and some turnarounds have been as short as a number of days for people we have been dealing with. I am raising those genuine cases where people find themselves having identified an error at the end of the estimated date for the application to be completed and finding only at the end of the process that there is an error in the application. That may take a number of weeks to sort out. These are just a limited number of cases and perhaps now that the backlog has been tackled, as the Minister has said, we can do something about that. I am genuine in my remarks on that and I am not trying to pick holes but it would save a lot of people's international travel and prevent errors or mishaps occurring in the future and it is something that might not take an awful lot of effort to make a positive difference. Catherine Connolly (CC), Galway West Deputy Ó Murchú wants to come in on the same issue. Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth I agree that we need to streamline the amendment system for passports because it is an issue. I would also ask if we have looked into improving the situation where members of the Garda have to sign passport applications. We still occasionally get the situation where the Passport Office rings the Garda station and nobody can locate the book. The fact that we are looking for the book is probably not the greatest set of circumstances. Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central 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. Catherine Connolly (CC), Galway West I will leave that discussion for later. Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal Part 2 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, and its associated Regulations, allows for the provision of affordable homes by local authorities, for sale to eligible buyers under affordable dwelling purchase arrangements. Section 6(2) of the Act empowers local authorities to enter into arrangements for the provision of affordable homes with Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), community-led housing organisations or housing co-operatives, the Land Development Agency (LDA), and/or public private partnership arrangements. Therefore, any of these organisations wishing to provide affordable housing for purchase is required to engage directly with the relevant local authority. These homes would then be advertised, allocated, and sold to eligible buyers in accordance with the legislative framework for Local Authority Affordable Purchase and the relevant local authority's scheme of priority for such sales. 2022 represented the first year of a very ambitious programme of delivery of affordable housing. This momentum will continue with delivery stepping up this year. A pipeline of housing delivery is in place and under continuous development by local authorities, AHBs and the LDA. Data on delivery across all affordable housing streams during 2022 is available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/6060e-overall-social-housing-provision/#affordable-housing-delivery. Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central Those issues have improved immeasurably. Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth They definitely have. I just got a query about it this week; that is the only reason I raised it. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-04-27/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-04-27