Micheál Martin praises ‘exceptional’ performance of the passport service this year with 950,000 processed applications

The passport service is on course to process 950,000 passports this year.

The number is slightly down on the record number of 1,080,000 passports in 2022 which was a post Covid-19 spike.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tánaiste Micheál Martin described the performance of the passport service as “exceptional” and added that it was “rightly recognised” as the best customer service brand in the public sector.

“I want to pay tribute to the passports team across the country who continue to work hard to deliver an excellent service for our citizens,” he said.

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“I would encourage anyone who is considering travel to check that their passport is in date and if they need to renew their passport or apply for the first time, to use Passport Online. This is the quickest, easiest and most cost-effective way to apply for your passport.”

More than a million applications have been received by the passport service this year. Passport Online has been rolled out to an additional 175 countries for first-time applicants this year, meaning that 99.9 per cent of all first-time and renewal applicants around the world can apply online.

The passport service says it is successfully meeting the high demand for passports with turnaround times on or well-ahead of target, and no backlogs. The majority of online adult renewal applications are issued within two working days.

The processing time for Foreign Birth Registration (FBR), which is available to people who are born abroad and claim Irish citizenship through descent, has decreased by 75 per cent from over two and a half years in 2022 to eight months currently. The Passport Service has approved over 36,000 FBR applications this year.

The Department of Foreign Affairs provided consular assistance to 2,043 new cases in 2023. This work is in addition to the consular support that is being provided to others on an ongoing basis.

Of the 57 citizens and dependents have been assisted in leaving Gaza since October 7th among them was the Irish-Israeli hostage Emily Hand.

A further 280 Irish citizens and dependents were airlifted out of Sudan between April 15th and May 25th.

This year saw a 13 per cent overall increase in newly-recorded consular cases (1,706 new cases) outside Sudan and the Middle East including a 12 per cent increase in deaths of Irish citizens abroad notified to the department, compared with 2022.

More than one-in-five of all new consular cases in 2023 related to the death of an Irish citizen overseas. The department was also notified of the deaths of a number of Irish citizens as a result of medical and/or cosmetic procedures abroad.

Over 55,000 Irish documents were authenticated for business or personal use overseas, and over 2,890 civil letters of freedom were issued to Irish citizens marrying abroad in 2023.

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