Holidaymakers applying for a passport this summer have been warned of one crucial step that is slowing down applications for children and first timers.
A record 1.4 million passport applications are expected this year and many first time applicants are reporting long delays.
Speaking on RTE Radio 1 today, TD for Dublin Mid-West Emer Higgins said that about 4 in 10 applications "hit a hurdle".
Read more: Children's passports taking around 40 days, Dublin TD says
She noted that a number of factors are causing applications to be delayed, including rejection of photographs and some documents being missing.
However the "big issue" that she has been hearing from her constituents is delays due to the witness signature.
Deputy Higgins said: "The garda signature might have the wrong date on it or it mightn't correspond with the log book that they keep in the station where they verify that parents have come in.
"That's a really important part of the child's protection and anti-fraud element of our application for first timers and for babies.
"To be honest, I think this is something that we can really tighten up on if we invest in the technology. I don't see why we can't do this electronically."
Sinn Fein TD John Brady also said that verifying the witness is "hugely problematic".
He said on RTE Radio 1: "Verification process has to be applied but the difficulty is, applicants for children are going to the local teacher or the garda station to get it verified.
"The passport office then has to phone the teacher or the garda station and this is hugely problematic particularly in rural areas where the garda station might only be manned a couple of hours a day.
"The passport office will only try to phone the garda station or the teacher who may be in a classroom, twice.
"If they can't make contact to verify the signature, people etc, then that means that the whole consent process has to start again."
Siobhan Byrne, head of the Irish passport service, has also urged first time applicants to make sure their witness can be contacted by the passport office.
She said on Newstalk earlier this month: "I would advise for people who are going to a garda station to ensure that it is a garda station that is manned and that the person would be available when we call and therefore there would be no delays.
"The onus would be on the applicant to ensure that they do have a witness who is contactable by the Passport Service to avoid any delays with processing their passport application."
Read more: Passport Ireland: How to speed up your application
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