The Foreign Affairs Minister says the sheer volume of passport applications being filed is like nothing he’s ever seen before.
Over 350,000 applications have been made so far this year.
That’s more than 100,000 filed each month – a figure that hasn’t been in a single month before this year.
The majority are being processed quickly, but some 37,000 are stuck awaiting more information from the applicant.
The Minister says that’s something that needs to be addressed:
“The communications between the Department, the passport service and applicants needs to improve so that we get a more consistent approach towards passport application”
Meanwhile Carlow-Kilkenny Deputy Jennifer Murnane O’Connor raised the plight of one family as the matter was being discussed in the Dáil earlier.
She claimed the family had to split up for a holiday because one child was waiting for a passport.
Deputy Murnane O’ Connor hit out at the failures in the system
“Because they requested further information it’s gone right back down in the system. You cannot have a system that’s failing”.
