With all due respect, that is a non-answer. We know bad weather events and Storm Emma occurred. It shows that the system is not robust. If the reason given for the backlog and people waiting five or six weeks for passport renewals is Storm Emma, that is not true. The reality is that resourcing within the service has been decreased year-on-year. In 2012, there were 306 full-time staff in the service. In 2016, there were 269. There was a 12% reduction. I asked the Tánaiste specifically if he has plans to increase the number of staff in the service to deal with the backlog? We are nowhere near it.

The website says 16 days for a renewal but it is not 16 days. I encourage people to use the online renewal service as well. However, first-time applicants and under 18s cannot do so. People are missing trips, holidays, business trips and big events because the resources are not there. Saying it is down to the weather is not really acceptable.

That is not what I said.

That is what the Tánaiste said. What is his plan to deal with this? This should not come as a surprise to him because I have raised it repeatedly. We are seeing peaks because of Brexit and we have seen increases since 2016. What has the Tánaiste done and what is he is planning to do to improve the service that the citizens of the country deserve and are paying for?

I am not sure the Deputy has raised it time and again with me.

I have. The Tánaiste should check the record.

The facts are-----

I have put down written parliamentary questions to the Department on numerous occasions.

Let me deal with the Deputy's questions.

Do not make a charge like that.

The Deputy has raised it before now but it has not been time and again.

This has been a particular problem over the past several weeks. Changes have ensured passport services have improved dramatically in the past year. We must deal with the facts. The processing time for passport express renewal applications is now 16 days again. This was reduced from 23 days two weeks ago for the reasons I outlined.

It is not.

It is not.

Allow the Tánaiste to continue.

There are always exceptions with passports with which we have been dealing. With respect, my office has been accommodating to many Members on this issue for several weeks.

That is appreciated.

It is true that extra staff come in on a seasonal basis as passport applications spike, as they always do, in the build-up to the summer.

How many?

We have also sanctioned overtime to deal with the backlog because of the difficulties caused by the recent bad weather. The Deputy can see the evidence of that in that two weeks ago passport express applications were taking three days but today they are taking 16 days.

I did not get an answer.