I understand that 450 new staff will be employed in the Passport Office. I acknowledge the work of the staff in that office. It has been an extremely busy time for them, particularly in the last number of months. Some were re-tasked to assist the Department of Social Protection and other Departments during the height of the pandemic. I am sure I speak for all Deputies when I express gratitude for the work they have done and for assisting many members of the public. The Minister will be aware of the backlog of paper-based applications and of more complex applications. Indeed, there is a heap of applications by parents for children's first passports that need to be dealt with.

When does the Minister expect those new staff to come on stream? How long will it take to process the backlog, particularly, of paper-based applications?

The staff complement will reach approximately 900 by February, which is an increase of about 450 from a month ago. I know that many Deputies are getting requests for help from families to get passports turned around quickly. There are all sorts of reasons for that, nearly all linked to the Covid pandemic. We are dramatically ramping up the human resources in the Passport Office. We have worked with the OPW to get a lot of extra space. In the next week or so we will put up Perspex units between staff and their colleagues in the Passport Office to allow the full complement to be back to work, consistent with Covid restrictions. We set up a new call centre service for emergency cases for Oireachtas Members, which applies to everybody in this House. We are increasing the limit of no more than five cases per week up to 15 cases per week in response to concerns that have been expressed to me.