Passport Services

Wednesday, 1 July 2026

Ceisteanna (84)

Ken O'Flynn

Ceist:

84. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 212, 213 and 214 of 25 June 2026, in which her Department stated that there have been no significant service disruptions to the Passport Service’s new IT system, Turas, since its deployment in December 2025, the precise criteria used by her Department or the Passport Service to classify an incident as a “significant service disruption”; the total number of scheduled system upgrades, unscheduled outages, and pre-planned service outages that have occurred since December 2025, broken down by category and by duration; whether the two pre-planned weekend outages referenced in the reply, and the routine scheduled upgrades of two to four hours’ duration, are excluded from her Department’s definition of a significant service disruption; and if she will confirm the total cumulative hours during which the Turas system was unavailable to passport applicants or Passport Service staff since deployment. [49994/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

The Passport Service deployed a new internal processing system, turas, in December 2025. This new system has been developed specifically for the Irish passport service and allows for greater efficiencies in the production of passports as well as the ability to handle significantly more passport and foreign birth registration applications year on year. Turas has been built using modern technology which makes it more agile and easier to adapt for policy and legislation changes that occur in the future.

Turas is the core system of the Passport Service and integrates with all other current and future systems. All future phases of Turas development will be carried out in line with the development of other projects under the programme. This work will continue until Q3 2027.

A significant service disruption is defined as a significant degradation of the passport production process that would impact our service to the public. At no time since the deployment of the new system turas in December 2025 has there been an outage that has fallen into this category. All upgrades have been carried out on a scheduled basis and have taken place outside core working hours ensuring minimal impact on the day to day operations of the Passport Service.