No case for Cork passport printing service at present

The Tánaiste has said there is no business case to be made to establish a passport printing service in Cork.

Fine Gael TD for Cork East Noel McCarthy asked Simon Harris in the Dáil if he had plans to establish such a service at the Cork passport office. Mr Harris replied that more than 93% of all passport applications are now made through Passport Online, with the vast majority of adult renewal passports issued within two to four days.

“The Passport Service operates three passport book printing machines, two located in the main production facility at the Balbriggan campus, and the third in the Dublin passport office,” said Mr Harris.

He said the Passport Service estimates the initial capital cost of purchasing and installing a new printer and mailing machine to be approximately €5.3m.

“In addition to the capital investment, these highly sophisticated machines require expert engineers to be on-site while the machines are in operation to maintain and service the machines and repair them when necessary. The running and maintenance costs alone are is estimated to be €600,000 per year.”

He said the public offices of the Passport Service in Cork and Dublin operate an urgent appointment service for renewal applications, but government records show that just 1-2% of all applicants avail of it.

“During 2024, there were an average of 240 urgent appointments for a four-day turnaround service available in Cork each week. In 2024, 26% of appointments available in Cork were booked”, said Mr Harris. 

“For these reasons, at the moment, a business case cannot be made to invest this level of funds to facilitate the very small proportion of applicants who wish to have their passport renewed within one day in Cork.

“I am satisfied that the current Passport Online service and production capacity meets the needs of passport applicants.”