Over 3,000 passport applications are being received every day and 1,000 queries, a number of TDs have been told by management at the Passport Office.
Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan, Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen, Independent TD Cathal Berry and Sinn Fein TD John Brady visited the Passport Office on Thursday for a meeting with senior management to demand answers on what is causing significant delays.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror following the meeting, Laois-Offaly TD, Charlie Flanagan said TDs were told there had been 60,000 passports issued so far this year.
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He said: “My advice to people would be to forget about paper applications and they should no longer be advisable and applications should be online.
“I would suggest elderly people to seek assistance from younger members of the community if they are not tech-savvy. If people apply online, they are likely to get a favourable result.”
The TDs who were joined by officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, said they were told there were now over 800 people working in the Passport Office. Up to 32 workers have been pulled from the HSE’s Covid-19 contact tracing team to manage the “unprecedented” number of phone queries, and are based in Limerick.
Mr Flanagan said: “We told management we were really anxious that the turnaround for passports and they should be shortened.
“There are hardship cases coming to our constituency offices every day - people who can make holidays, people who are disappointed. And what we asked of them was a reduction in the turnaround and if queries come in - they would be flagged earlier to citizens.”
He said the updated turnaround time for first-time applications has been reduced from 40 days to 25 days “but more work has to be done in that area.
Passport renewals are not problematic.
Mr Flanagan said he met with people in the Passport Office who are working in a development unit which is looking at longer-term issues like changes to applications and “ensuring that the international reputation and integrity of the Irish passport is world class.”
He said there was an acknowledgement from management that there are challenges and have agreed to meet with TDs again for an update.
Mr Flanagan added: “We have asked that if there are queries in regards to people’s application form, that they would be flagged earlier to citizens.
“I would encourage people to check their passports immediately, the earlier the application goes in the earlier it is dealt with.”
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