Passport Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-21
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

I thank those who attended the briefing yesterday. It was a good discussion and an opportunity to make sure that every Deputy is able to support their constituents, in particular where people need passports quickly for various reasons. I thank all of the team in the Passport Office. Every year the demand increases and there is huge pressure on the staff, so I thank them for the work that they do.
Demand for passports from citizens in Northern Ireland has continued to increase and remain steady. To date in 2026, 12% of all passports that have been issued have been to residents of Northern Ireland. The passport online service offers citizens the ability to apply for passports online 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That applies to absolutely everybody, and it is available to 100% of applicants globally, not just on the island. Currently, 96% of all applicants use the passport online service. It is worth noting that just 1% of all passports issue through the public counters. This is a really good statistic because over the years we have been advocating that people apply online. A lot of money and investment has gone into the online system. It is actually quicker and easier to turn around and it is a much more efficient system for everybody no matter where they are applying from.
Last year, 91% of citizens resident in Northern Ireland applied through passport online. I did not have the figure the other evening in committee but since then I have been informed that it has increased to 97% this year. In the first four months of this year, 97% of passport applications from citizens in Northern Ireland were through the online portal.
In December, a new passport assist service launched to support citizens who do not wish to use passport online because we do have a cohort who still perhaps might find it difficult. They might not have somebody to support them or they might not have access to an online system. This is to assist them in making that paper passport application. Citizens can call the dedicated passport assist number as well to receive personalised paper forms along with a bespoke list of documents required that they post back to the passport service through their local post office. This is an all-island service that enhances the paper application route by offering direct assistance to citizens.
There are no plans to open an office in the North. We closed the office that we had in London for the reason that I have outlined: we are moving to a situation where the vast majority of people who apply do so online. Of course we still need to make sure that we offer a counter service for people and that is why the offices in Dublin and Cork will remain open. There are no plans to go beyond that at the moment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-21