Politicians have blitzed the under-pressure Passport Service with 12,200 queries on behalf of constituents since the start of the year amid a surge in applications as Covid-era travel restrictions are eased.
TDs have been inundated with requests for assistance from voters worried that their travel documents will not arrive in time for their trips.
The Passport Service has been dealing with unprecedented demand and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has been under pressure from Government backbenchers and the Opposition to improve the service.
Much of the delays being experienced relate to people making a first passport application for children due to the extra security checks required.
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Mr Coveney last week announced changes to the process involving Garda witnesses for the applications that are aimed at avoiding delays in instances where passport officials have difficulty contacting individual gardaí to verify the information.
Extra staff are being added to the Passport Service, which will see it reach 900 workers, double the number employed last summer.
More workers have also been assigned to the dedicated helpline for politicians raising constituents’ cases with numbers going from seven to 11 staff last week.
Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín raised the issue with Mr Coveney saying the phoneline is “constantly engaged” and asking “if he will ensure that elected members and their staff are not held responsible for failings at the Passport Office”.
In a written response, Mr Coveney said the helpline was dealing “with record numbers of calls” and had handled 12,200 since the start of the year. That works out at an average of 554 queries per week.
Mr Coveney said cases raised by politicians are reviewed but added that cases can only be expedited where there is a “genuine emergency” including urgent medical treatment overseas or the death of a family member abroad.
He added that politicians “often hear of the most complex and pressing cases” and the “overwhelming majority of passport applicants have their passport processed without any recourse to their local TD”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said that 560,000 passports had been issued to date in 2022, 90,000 more than were issued at this point in 2019, a pre-pandemic year.
It said 80 per cent of applications were renewals for adults and children and 99 per cent of these are issued within the standard turnaround time of up to 15 working days in the case of children.
First-time applications are currently taking 30 working days and the Passport Service is said to be “focused on reducing this processing time further in the coming weeks”.
Last Thursday, Mr Coveney told Fine Gael TDs and Senators that a new agreement had been struck with the Garda on witnessing first-time child applications.
He said that, at present, about 50 applications a day “are stalled and need new consent forms because of the inability to contact the witnessing Garda around the country”. Three attempts are made to do this.
He added: “From now on, a daily list will be transmitted between the Passport Office and Garda management... where contact hasn’t been made and the contact will then be initiated on the Garda side meaning the application won’t be cancelled.”
Asked about the changes to the process and if had been working smoothly, a Garda spokesman said: “An Garda Síochána has and continues to have good working relationships with the Passport Office.”
