The Irish Passport Office has revealed one of the main reasons applicants are experiencing lengthy delays in receiving their passports this year.
There has been a huge increase in passport applications, with more people than ever before eager to travel abroad following two years of Covid restrictions.
Due to high demand, the service has seen a jump of 50 to 60% more applications this year and in six months has already issued the same amount of passports issued in the whole of 2021.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told the Irish Times on Tuesday that his department are "working around the clock" to get passports sent out in a speedy manner.
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He said: "There has been a 50 to 60 per cent increase in passport applications this year. We are responding to that by [having] a lot more people on the job, and we will continue that."
In a written answer to Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín, Mr Coveney said that in the first six months of 2022, the Passport Service has issued almost 600,000 passports - which is close to the total number of passports that were issued last year.
Despite delays, the Minister said that the service was actually "out-performing" any previous year and the helpline was dealing with a "record numbers of calls" from TDs on behalf of their constituents.
He said: "They are dealing with record numbers of calls and queries every week and have handled over 12,200 queries from Members since the beginning of this year."
The current processing times for passport applications are:
- 10 working days for Simple Adult online renewals
- 15 working days for Complex or child online renewals
- 30 working days for First Time Applications on Passport Online (applications received from 19 April)
- 8 weeks for An Post’s mail-in “Post Passport" service
Passport applicants can track the status of their passport application online via the Passport Tracker on www.dfa.ie/passporttracking /.
