PASSPORT PROCESSING times have returned to normal with the restoration of the 10 working-day guarantee for new passports, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has said.
A backlog in applications caused by industrial action at the Passport Office and an increase in demand for passports has been cleared.
There are now 24,057 passport applications in the system, which is the “normal amount”, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
According to Mr Martin, the recruitment of 50 extra temporary staff allowed for more than 68,000 additional passport applications to be examined over and above those considered during normal hours over the past few months.
As a result, the number of applications awaiting processing has decreased from a high of 69,400 at the end of April. As of June 17th, there were still 68,014 in the backlog.
During those months passports were taking four to five weeks to process.
“The public counters and out-of-hours service operated by the Passport Office can still be used in the event of a family emergency or where immediate travel is required,” Mr Martin said.
Those submitted via the passport express service, Swiftpost in the Republic and NIPX in the North, available through local post offices, were now guaranteed to be processed within 10 working days.
According to Mr Martin, the number of passports being issued daily is now in the region of 3,200.
The Passport Office processes 650,000 applications every year, according to the Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU).