EXTRA DEMAND MEANS that 9,200 passports are delayed beyond their “issue-by” dates.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement to TheJournal.ie that as of yesterday, there were 68,281 passport applications in train with the Passport Office.
The Herald, which first reported the story, reports that this is up from 59,173 at this time last year.
Of that 68,281, 13.5% are behind schedule, meaning 9,217 people are waiting.
The Department confirmed that temporary staff are being drafted in to help cope with demand.
Demand for passports has been very high throughout 2016 and a number of measures have been put in place to address this unexpected surge in demand. Overtime has been sanctioned for the three offices (Mount St, Balbriggan and Cork) and a total of 227 Temporary Clerical Officers have been recruited so far this year which is an increase of 56 officers on last year.
The demand is caused by a number of issues, the Department says. These include Euro 2016, the earlier Easter holidays, an increase in the numbers of people heading abroad and the number of renewals of passports issued in 2006, another year with high demand.
“In the case of passport express renewal applications, correctly completed applications are being processed in 12/14 working days. Other applications are taking up to 25 working days – some categories such as first time applications take longer to process due to additional anti-fraud measures and the need to establish an entitlement to citizenship.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has been urging people to allow six weeks’ turnaround time. The Passport Service update their website on a weekly basis with updated turnaround times.
The service says that everyone wishing to travel this year should check the validity of their passport now, allow six weeks for delivery and use Passport Express or submit their application in person.
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