A Co Derry teenager faces missing the chance to captain the Northern Ireland dance team travelling to an international competition in Spain next week because her Irish passport may not arrive in time.
Halle Ramsey, 14, from Coleraine is also hoping to compete against 62 other countries in this summer's Dance World Cup.
The Loreto College pupil is among around 40 talented dancers who have successfully qualified to represent Team Northern at the 2022 event in San Sebastian.
Read more: Belfast Irish passport office call gains momentum with cross party support in Republic
Halle and her mum Julie are due to fly out next Thursday and say it's still and touch and go if they will get to go.
Both of them have been waiting for an Irish passport renewal since early April and their new travel documents still haven't arrived.
Their plight comes amid ongoing pressures on the passport service over long delays in processing applications with people missing holidays after being unable to obtain new passports in time.
Julie, told Belfast Live she's at the end of her tether.
"I applied for my Irish passport and my daughter's on 6th April through the Post Office and the Passport Office in Dublin received the application two days later.
"At that point, my estimated issue date was Friday, 3rd June. On that Friday I checked the tracking and it had gone to the bottom, but on the Saturday, it jumped back up yet the issue date never changed.
"I rang and eventually spoke to someone who said the new issue date was last Thursday, 9th June but I rang back on Thursday (after trying to get through 175 times) as the status of the tracking hadn't changed.
"I got speaking to a man who was very rude and not sympathetic at all and even though I was crying, he hung up on me. Then I went onto the webchat service only to be told I probably won't have it in time and to have a nice day"
"I printed the webchat because I am actually appalled at how I was treated. I have stated to them that I will drive to Dublin and collect them if they would please print them."
Julie said her stress levels are now through the roof.
"We fly out in 10 days (June 23) time to Spain for the Dance World Cup, where my daughter has been selected to represent NI as the team captain so it's not as thought this is a random family holiday that could be changed," she said.
"This is Halle's first time abroad and when she got the news that she'd been selected as team captain she was absolutely delighted. If she can’t get to Spain it’s not just her personal disappointment that is the issue.
"She is in competing in different group dances and duets so she is distraught about letting the other girls down because all the routines will have to be reworked at short notice. Halle has been dancing since she was six years old and never in a million years did we think she would make it to the world championships.
"Now all the excitement is gone and we can't even look forward to it because this is taking all the joy out of it. I cannot tell you enough how extremely stressed I am about it all. This has been going on for ten weeks so I'm really panicking now. I'm thinking that it's only six working days maximum, but I can't have any more stress or I honestly will be in the Bann!" Julie added.
The Irish passport office also still has all her documents, which is preventing her from getting emergency British passports in order for herself and Halle to be able to travel to the dance competition.
"It was a renewal with a name change so I had sent through my marriage certificate and Halle's birth certificate. They still have those documents so I can't even get British passports instead, nor do I have the money to pay for them.
"I will go to Dublin and collect the passports so I have them in my hand unless they will be sent to us via next day delivery," Julie added.
The Department for Foreign Affairs has said the Passport Service is seeing record demand, beating the previous busiest year of 2019 by almost 20%.
Over 600,000 passports have been issued to date in 2022 and last week, the Passport Service issued an average of 6,000 passports a day.
They added that 80% of applications received by the Passport Service are renewal applications for both adults and children while 99% of these are issued within the standard turnaround time.
Almost half of all adults who renew their passports online will receive their new passport in the post within two working days, they said while the turnaround time for child online renewals is 15 working days.
A spokesperson for the department added: "First time online applications take longer to process, due to the necessary security checks. These are currently taking 25 working days. This processing time has been reduced by 40% since March, when it was 40 working days.
"Turnaround times apply to fully complete and correct passport applications and begin from the date supporting documents received by the Passport Service, not the online registration date
"The Customer Service Hub is available to answer applicants’ questions by phone or webchat and details can be found at dfa.ie/passports. The Customer Service Hub has dealt with over 100,000 queries since the beginning of the year and last week alone, they handled 1,400 web chats and over 3,300 calls.
"For urgent renewal of passports for adults or children, the Urgent Appointment Service is available at the Passport Office in Mount Street, Dublin 2 and in Cork. There are over 400 appointments available each week. More than 100 of these are available for a same-day turnaround in Mount Street and can be booked three days in advance.
"Anyone who wishes to renew their passport within 1 or 4 days can book an appointment online, bring their passport application and supporting documents to the Passport Office and, once everything is in order, they will receive their passport on the same day or within four days depending on the option they choose. This service is not available for first time applications.
"The Press Office cannot comment on individual passport application cases."
Read more: NI couple on 'frustrating' Irish passport wait as they miss postponed birthday trip to Spain
Read more: Irish passport service issues help to speed up your application and avoid delays
To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
