New Cork passport office not likely to open before end of 2027 

Cork’s new passport office is likely to be delayed by a year, a Government TD has been told, only months after the Department of Foreign Affairs said it would open by Christmas.

Last July, Tánaiste Simon Harris, then the minister for foreign affairs, said it was intended that a new passport office would be fully operational on Albert Quay by autumn of this year.

The public-facing passport service would move, he said, 500m downriver from its base at 1A South Mall to a new location at Navigation Sq, on a site that was once proposed for Cork’s long-delayed event centre, before losing out to the Brewery Quarter site.

In February, a response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael Cork North West TD John Paul O’Shea explained that the projected date had slipped by three months. On that occasion, Neale Richmond, the minister of state, said the department was expecting the new office to open “in Q4 2026”.

Could not be more specific 

He added that the department could not be more specific regarding an opening date as the Office of Public Works was project-managing the fit-out of the new office.

Now, four months after that response, the department has told Séamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, that the opening date has slipped back again, seemingly until at least the end of 2027.

“The project is currently at an advanced stage of design,” Mr McGrath was told.

“It is anticipated that construction and fit-out works will be completed in Q2 2027. This is based on the current, anticipated timelines on procurement and business environment.

“Following the completion of the fit-out, a further period will be required for client-specific installations, including ICT [information and computer technology] and furniture, prior to occupation.”

Assuming that construction and fit-out are completed by the revised summer 2027 date, it is understood that additional installations would likely last until at least the year’s end.

Unhappy at the delay 

Mr McGrath said that while investment in the passport service in Cork was very welcome, he was unhappy at the delay. “It is very disappointing to receive an update from the minister, indicating that the new office may not be open to the public until later in 2027,” he said.

“I will be asking for further details and the reasons for this delay.

“Critically, I will also be questioning if this delay will result in additional costs for the project.”

So far, the department said, the expenditure on the new site has been €42,870.30, inclusive of Vat, with those costs relating to design fees, statutory planning costs, and surveying reports.

The department told Mr McGrath that for reasons of commercial sensitivity, it was not possible to provide fit-out costs, because the project is due to proceed to tender in the coming weeks.

The lease for the new premises is for 20 years, beginning in January 2025, with a current annual rent of €653,000 per annum.