'Express' passport fees come with no guarantee

PASSPORT BACKLOG:THE PASSPORT OFFICE is still encouraging customers to pay extra for the express service it runs with An Post despite its own warning that the 10-day guarantee has been suspended until further notice.

An Post, which has begun issuing Passport Express receipts absolving itself from “any guarantee regarding the turnaround time” of passports, is nevertheless continuing to accept fees of €8.50 per passport from customers to use the service.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, under whose auspices the Passport Office is run, said the guarantee had been suspended because of the backlog of applications caused by industrial action. The backlog now stands at 65,651, down from 67,500 a week ago. A spokesman said Passport Express customers should now allow up to 20 working days. Customers using the normal postal-application service should allow at least six weeks.

A spokeswoman for An Post said the express service was still being offered as it encompassed a checking service designed to ensure applicants had included all documentation, and provided a guarantee of getting the application safely to and from the Passport Office. She said the 10-day guarantee was a matter for the Passport Office.

The Passport Office’s website offers a tracking service as applications move through registration to checking of documents, approval, printing of passport and dispatch or availability for collection.

There is some doubt about whether the express service is currently managing to provide passports within 20 working days. Some recent applications were tracked at stage one until the 17th day; they then completed all the remaining stages by day 20 after an appeal to the Department of Foreign Affairs.