PASSPORTS ARE now taking 20 working days to process, with approximately 50,000 applications in the backlog, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Advising customers to avoid the public counter of the Passport Office until they have confirmed on the website that the relevant passport is ready for collection, the department said: “Public counters and out-of-hours services should only be used by those who have a necessity to travel for reasons of family emergency”.
The department said all other applications should be submitted through the Passport Express channel.
Meanwhile, the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) has warned of full-scale strikes at the Passport Office from as early as this week and escalated industrial action across the Civil Service if no deal is reached with the Government. The union, representing lower-paid civil servants, is seeking money lost in the pay cuts to be returned by the end of the year.
More than 60 people queued outside the Passport Office in Dublin from early yesterday morning, many expressing frustration at the backlog in applications, saying it still remained unclear whether priority was being given to urgent travel plans.
Last week, passport seekers were told that immediate travel plans were now being accommodated. However, one woman yesterday said she had been told that the holiday which she is due to go on this Thursday is not considered “urgent travel”.
Edel Kelly from Maynooth, who is due to travel to Spain with her husband and father-in-law, said she was worried she might not get to go on the holiday in two days’ time, despite having paid more than €1,000 for the 10-day trip.
Ms Kelly said: “I don’t know what I’ll do if I don’t get to go on this holiday . . . I don’t need a new passport as mine doesn’t expire until August, but I got married last July and my husband booked the holiday tickets under my married name.
“I’m a primary school teacher, I understand why they are doing it, but they could do it in different ways. Innocent people are being affected,” she added.
Also in the queue was Alan Byrne, who had travelled from Kingscourt in Co Cavan.
Mr Byrne said he needed his passport as he was getting married abroad, and needed the passport number to give to the Department of Foreign Affairs in order to get married in Lanzarote.
“I’ve been waiting on my passport for three weeks now. I previously queued for four hours but with no success, so I’m back again today. The wedding is all booked and paid for and the invitations have been sent out,” he said.
Mr Byrne added: “I understand where the passport workers are coming from, but they’re lucky to have a job. I’ve no work. If I got some pay I’d take it.”
Jeff Callaghan had travelled from England on the Norfolkline ferry yesterday morning in order to get a passport for his aunt who is Irish but is based in Liverpool.