Patrick Costello
Question:31. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the cost of issuing an individual passport to the State. [35916/23]
View answerTuesday, 25 July 2023
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Written answers
Following an extraordinary surge in demand for passport services since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, the Passport Service has successfully restored full, normal service and regular processing times for passport applications. In 2022, just over 1,000,000 passports were issued, and to date in 2023, almost 650,000 passports have been issued.
To provide these services, the Passport Service has offices in Dublin 2 and Cork, which include public offices. Other operational and support staff are based in Dublin at premises in Balbriggan and Tallaght. In addition, central services are shared with other units of the Department of Foreign Affairs, such as information technology, human resources management, and other corporate services.
The direct costs incurred in operating and providing passport and foreign birth registration services include staff costs, operating costs, premises and building utility costs, postage, etc. The budgeted direct costs for 2023 are €48.4m. However, this figure does not include the allocation of indirect costs of my Department's central services, for example, information technology, human resources management, finance, corporate services, etc. As central service costs are not allocated to the Passport Service, the cost of issuing an individual passport is not possible to calculate.