Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
251. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether any internal audit, operational review, governance assessment or risk review has examined delayed return, loss or misplacement of supporting documentation submitted with passport applications since 2020; and if so, to provide the dates, findings and recommendations of each review. [39233/26]
View answer252. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether any service-level targets exist internally for the return of supporting documentation submitted with passport applications; the compliance rates achieved in each of the past five years; and the number of cases exceeding those targets in each year. [39234/26]
View answer253. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade whether the Passport Service records the number of requests for urgent return of supporting documentation separately from general customer correspondence; and if so, to provide annual figures for each year since 2020. [39235/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 251, 252 and 253 together.
As outlined on the cover sheet that applicants receive with their new passport, where original documents have been submitted to the Passport Service in support of an application, the Passport Service will return these documents separately to the new passport, within 15 working days after the passport application is processed.
The Passport Service does not record compliance rates on the return of supporting documents within this timeframe.
The Passport Service has a system in place whereby applicants who require their supporting documents to be returned urgently can request this. In such a case, the applicant can receive their documents back in advance of their new passport being issued.
With regard to the Deputy's query on the number of requests for urgent return of supporting documentation, please see the annual figures for each year since 2020 in tabular form below.
|
Year |
Number of requests for return of supporting documents |
|
2020 |
3,926 |
|
2021 |
9,433 |
|
2022 |
10,088 |
|
2023 |
11,858 |
|
2024 |
18,263 |
|
2025 |
18,508 |
Since 2024, the Passport Service has recorded information on lost or misplaced supporting documents that resulted in data breaches. Please see information in tabular form below.
|
Year |
Passports issued |
Internal data breaches involving supporting documents |
Internal data breaches involving supporting documents as a % of passports issued |
|
2024 |
1,061,629 |
72 |
0.006% |
|
2025 |
933,121 |
59 |
0.006% |
The Passport Service continuously reviews its internal processes, with a focus on further reducing risk and enhancing data security.
