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THE DEPARTMENT OF Foreign Affairs (DFA) has apologised for the delays being experienced by people who have applied to receive or renew a passport.
Niall Burgess, Secretary General at the DFA, today told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) it is “a matter of immense frustration” for staff at the Passport Office that it’s taking longer than planned to process some applications.
Burgess said the service “for the most part” is working well but acknowledged that many people are concerned they won’t receive their passports in time for travel plans.
Burgess said staff are showing “immense grace under pressure” but added: “The phone service is not what it should be at present and I apologise for that.”
The office has received about 9,500 queries in the past week alone, he said, adding that employees are “not turning anyone away”.
In recent weeks some people who have experienced delays in receiving their passports complained that they were unable to get through to the Passport Office via phone.
Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats said she’s aware of a number of people who have missed travel plans due to the delays. One person missed a family wedding abroad, something she described as “very hurtful”.
Burgess said that when staff at the Passport Office are made aware that a person may miss a holiday or travel commitment because of a delay, they will “pull that application and process it”. He said he’s not aware of anyone missing a flight for this reason.
Targets
So far this year, more than 100,000 passport applications have been processed – with over 90% of these being processed within 10 working days.
However, about 50% of the separate 100,000 applications made via the Passport Express postal service in the same period are not being processed within the 21-day target.
Some 27,000 applications have taken over six weeks, while a further 22,000 have taken up to eight weeks.
Burgess said it takes longer to process first-time applications and those relating to lost or stolen passports due to the checks that need to be carried out.
Family delays
Burgess noted that some families are experiencing delays because one or more of their children may not have had a passport before. When families apply for more than one passport at a time, these applications are bundled together and, as such, all end up taking longer to process.
He said children’s passports will likely be able to be renewed online by the end of the year (currently only adult passports can be renewed online), something that will speed up the process.
He said processing times are in line with international norms and that the office expects to meet all targets by next month.
Burgess said the number of people from Northern Ireland applying for passports is similar to last year, but that there has been a 20% increase in the number of applications from Britain.
He said this isn’t having a major impact on processing times, noting that more people are applying for passports in general.
Temporary staff
Burgess said the Passport Office has three printing machines and does not need additional capacity.
He said the majority of passport applications are processed in the first half of the year, with the surge in applications happening earlier every year.
To meet this demand, the office hires temporary staff. Burgess said it was hoped that these employees would be in place by 1 January but that there was a delay due the garda vetting process taking longer than it had in previous years.
He said the balance between permanent and temporary staff may need to be reviewed.
Speaking about the price of passports, Fiona Penollar, Director of the Irish Passport Service, said it costs about €40-50 to produce a passport, excluding central costs.
A standard adult 10-year passport costs €80 (€95 if applying from abroad), while a five-year passport for a child costs €30 (€45 if applying from abroad).
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I blame people leaving it until the last minute to renew/apply for new passports. Every year during the summer months, the passport office is overwhelmed with applications, and while they do their best to accommodate you they will still have delays. People should be applying well in advance knowing all well it may be delayed getting their application processed.
Some people are booking holidays away at the last moment, only to realise their passport is out of date or soon to expire, when they have no one but themselves to blame.
@neuromancer: totally.
This happens every year and people never learn. Unorganised people will always be & unorganised.
The problem is not with the passport office – it’s with lackadaisical dopey people.
@neuromancer: I applied 10 wks in advance in early Feb, still only got back to me 2 days before holiday! Oh and that was passport express! The system is broken
@neuromancer: what if your job depends on your passport. I use my passport right up to its expiry date. I want my passport issued within an hour once the paperwork i submitted weeks in advance is in order. At 50 & having no criminal convictions & requiring my passport for my job i think its a perfectly reasonable position. Once of my colleagues has just spent 3 weeks out of work. Also its clear by this report that the passport office are saying its there system thats the issue not unorganized people. Its also important to say that those working in the passport office are incredibly helpful & polite for the most part & that its the system thats at fault. As usual we have a lot of short comings in Ireland in relation to such matters.
@neuromancer: If something happens every year, maybe the people responsible should plan for it (as the article suggests they do by hiring extra staff)? Pretending it’s all the customers fault will never make the problem go away but I guess you get to demonstrate your superiority here so you’re happy now.
@Jeanette McDonald: agree applied 22nd of Jan for a change of name passport for work & college exams and did not recieve it until day before exam 6th of April!
@neuromancer: It’s more like civil servants take their holidays in the summer months , as does everyone else , and there’s not enough staff to replace them .
Same craic every year .
@neuromancer: I’ve heard that some eejit has been parking a bicycle right at the entrance which has been causing a hindrance for other customers!
@neuromancer: my son’s passport was up 23rd May sent it off via embassy 6June,
Estimated time of return 12 July ! This is a simple renewal.
I live abroad but come home every school holiday this is the only period in the year when we could safely wait 6-8 weeks for a renewal without travel commitments.
@neuromancer: my cousin applied three months ago from Dubai, for his daughters passport. Found out this week that it wasn’t due to be processed for at least another 2 months. They are due to travel this Tuesday. It took multiple calls to get to talk to anyone, because of timezones and being on hold.
They ended up getting onto boxer Moran, who got on to Simon coveney, as the passport is in Cork. It should now be in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. They will still need to travel there to collect it though.
Pretty sure three months isn’t last minute even when doing it from abroad.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: oh, and this is a renewal, not a new passport
@neuromancer: Yep. Same here in Revenue.
People leaving Susi grants to the last second and leave it to Revenue to do everything instantly even though we are waiting on them or their employer to submit documentation.
@neuromancer: I agree to an extent but sometimes it can’t be helped. My son was born on 1st May and we applied on 10th. Had to flag it with them and to be fair they pulled it and processed it yesterday because we’re flying tomorrow.
@Mjhint: Yes but YOU’RE not the problem. It’s holidaymakers who leave things to the last minute that make a rod for everyone else’s back
Being bombarded by all the requests from the UK for passports following Brexit.
@Stephen Devlin: the 20% increase still only accounts from 2% of all passports. Considering the improvements in IT, the lack of additional info needed for renewals (Also, we have a new PSC system for checks and balances), it’s down to either incompetence, inflexibility or more likely – politicians being able to cycle up to the door and prioritise political vote getting over other equal citizens.
@Gulliver Foyle: No it’s not. Everything can’t be just fobbed off on technology. Legal documents require checking, simple as. We have a growing population and changes in work practices , working hours and technology have brought great strides in the last 10 years. All offices have lost employees due to retirements though.
But many government offices, and I include Revenue and the passport office in that, simply need people at this stage. There are too many commentators with their eyes closed and fingers in there ears to notice that fact.
The technology made up the shortfall in recent years but we are now passing the limits of relying simply on technological improvements and productivity endeavours.
I was very impressed with the online renewal, got my new passport back in about 10 days, back in April.
@Steve B: it took me 22 working days -
over 4 weeks, despite paying for passport express with a ‘guaranteed’ 10 working day turnaround. How can they charge extra for an express service they know doesn’t exist?
@EvieXVI: There’s no guaranteed turnaround any more, just a wish, a hope and a prayer. DFAs website says “If you are renewing an existing passport, the Passport Service aims to have passports back in 15 working days from the date we receive your application, provided the application has been submitted correctly.”
@Steve B: Same, done mine in November and had my passport in 4 days.
Why the feck is everything in this country done arseways?!
@Karl Dilkington: Murphys Law I think
@Karl Dilkington: I think it is more than likely that many of these people left it till the last minute to apply. Just like I did recently,but thankfully I received mine in time. It wasn’t like I didn’t know mine was a full year out of date.
@Karl Dilkington: Because it’s being run by arseholes….
@Karl Dilkington: a public service with no accountability. You can be late almost every day and not only will you not be disciplined, you can still get promoted, as in the case mentioned on here last week.
Actual problem is civil service wont take on full-time employees, over 150 temps on a 6 month contract expected to clear the backlog
#bullshitgovernment
@Ben O Toole:
When it’s my tax euros that’s paying for it I’m delighted to hear they are not taking on full time employees.
@P.J. Nolan: Contractors get paid more. And if the work is there you don’t contact it out forever.
@P.J. Nolan: it’s less cost effective employing contract staff when You consider costs of interviewing staff, processing Guarda clearance and lost time training new staff only to have to repeat the entire process over again so employing full time staff would take up less of your tax money in the long run.
@Ben O Toole: do you suggest funding of full-time permanent pensionable jobs for work that is seasonal then?
@Michael O’Neill: people on these contracts get paid the same as new permanent staff.
More important than passports, does anyone know if Michael Hely-Rae got his pushbike back? Will there be questions in the Dail about this affair. Bikegate.
@Irving Chubbie: hope he got that all important vote anyways by sorting someone’s paperwork. The poor people of Kerry are such a pity that they have to get td’s to do all their work for them
@mcgoo:
You’re not wrong there! It’s not just Kerry either. Passports, Medical cards, Driving tests…you name it. An awful lot of people feel that nothing can be done about anything until the local cute hoor is involved in the case.
Applied for five passports on 15th march including 3 kids under 4. Received a call from passport office mid April to say one set of pictures were unsuitable, lady told me to get them again send them on did not need guards stamp. Did this the next day received all passports following week for travel June 8th.
Thought this was great service.
@RACHEL: it is a great service. Unless you’re a bit thick & try to get your passport renewed 3 days before you go on holiday.
@Tim Murray: cousin is living in Dubai, renewing his daughters passport. Sent it off three months ago. Got told this week, after chasing it for a couple of weeks, that it would take at least another 2 months to process. They are travelling Tuesday.
His sister here got boxer Moran involved who sorted it with Simon coveney, for the passport to be in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.. not quite the right city, but close…
Yeah, great service…
The only ones to blame and the complete gombeens leaving it so late to renew.
Take some personal responsibility. Missed a wedding? Tough. You should have been more organised.
@Tim Murray: *are
@Tim Murray: Well said Tim… our blame culture is rampant. Personal responsibility has to be encouraged.
@Richard Prendiville: people literally get a 10 YEAR warning, and still miss the deadline.
Unbelievable thicks.
@Tim Murray: yep Tim it’ll be the #notmyfault brigade complaining.
@Tim Murray: How long before the wedding should you renew your passport? DFA say that most are issued within 3 weeks so if you thought 6 weeks would be okay, you’d be wrong. If you trebled it to 9 weeks, there’s still a chance it wouldn’t be back in time.
@Mark Boyle:
“How long before the wedding should you renew your passport?”
When you get back from your previous holiday.
e.g. My passport expired in May. I was in the UK in April. I’m going to Japan in August.
I renewed it the day after I got back from the UK in April.
The online service to contact them is a joke. Both myself and my wife have tried numerous times but no joy. You are 4th in the queue, you are 25th in the queue, still no response! In Hungary it takes 3 or so days or so to get a passport back. We are in our 3rd month now!
@flabar oflabar:
I did mine in April and it took 7 days. I did my mother in law’s in May and it took 4 days.
Why are you even on the phone? This stuff isn’t complicated.
@Tim Murray: what about other people besides yourself who may have a issue..maybe they had been waiting more then 4 weeks and checking status of their passport…thats just one reason people may have been on the phone and I’m sure there are hundreds of different reasons
@Tim Murray: It’s for a 5 month old…. They’ve also had my passport since then. We have contacted them numerous times. Another parent from the same school as one of our kids is also a few months waiting and went up today! Don’t just assume you have all the facts. Enjoy your day
I’ve nothing but praise for the passport office. Years ago I had my passport nicked in London and was due to fly out of Dublin on my way to the states the next day. The London passport office took pity on me an turned around a new 10 year passport by the close of business the same day. I call that quality service. I also witnessed the same staff getting abused by irate applicants when I collected my passport.
The system is a disgrace. Charging people for an “express service” when in reality there is no such service. My stepdads passport too 57 days by express, mine took 9 days online which is fine but not everyone can do their passports online fo r various reasons. When my stepdads was delayed he was due to fly to Australia and we could not get in touch with the passport office. I tried every means possible email, phone, Twitter and on 2 occasions sat almost 2 hours in the online queue only to be cut off when getting to the top. This needs to be sorted recruit more staff, pay overtime or whatever it takes to sort this mess.
@Cheryl Mellett: Everything possible? You didn’t go to the offices though.
You would probably be quick to give out about overtime pay once public accounts were released.
@Kal Ipers: perhaps she doesn’t live in Dublin, couldn’t take time off work or is unable to make the trek to the passport office. We live in a digital age, someone shouldn’t have to travel miles to speak to a person face to face when the service supposedly offer other options for getting in touch.
@Kal Ipers: You are not allowed to attend the passport office without appointment and I could not get an appointment as we could not get through to make one. Years ago you could turn up pull a ticket and wait but not any more.
My wife is from Thailand was over there to renew her passport last year .Went to the passport office at 9am came back at 2pm and it was there ,over here all they do is talk and take very long breaks all you need in Thailand is your old passport they even take the pictures for ,it’s a money making scheme over here
Do it at least 4-6 months in advance and no stress then! Simples! But hat involves looking at that little expiration date, which is beyond some people.
Do it online, took me about 5 days in total
Not helped by the lastminute.com attitude of everyone in this country these days
People don’t book holidays until you have a passport or apply in winter it’s fairly simple really.
I applied in March for both my kids and my husband did his online. Both arrived in 4 weeks. Again, as people have said it’s those that leave it until the last minute.
@Nurse on call: how can you say it’s people leaving it too late when for 27,000 people it took six weeks and a further 22,000 eight weeks? Not everyone has their passports sitting unused in a drawer for months on end, they use them for frequent travel and a modern service should be able to have a quicker turnaround than the so-called express service.
@Nurse on call: my cousin had his within a month when renewing from Dubai last year. Sent his daughters in three months ago from there, expecting the same thing.. got told this week it would take another 2 months.
The article clearly states that for over 49,000 people it’s taken over six weeks to receive their new passports yet so many of the usual suspects here blaming the applicants for leaving it too close to the departure date. Lots of people need their passports for business travel while many more travel frequently for leisure. It’s not like the old days where the majority used their passport for a single two-week holiday each year. The so called express service seems to take the longest to process so people should be informed of that when applying.
I received my passport three days after applying online with the card arriving a few days later. I was really impressed with the speed but for thousands of others it’s been a nightmare and totally outside their control.
I realised my passport was out of date two days before I was due to fly, went on line and booked emergency appointment got one for next day, drove to late night pharmacy got photos, drove on to Garda station and filled in passport form, went into passport office at 9.30 am went back at 5 that evening and at 6pm was handed my passport, and flew out next morning, excellent service and lovely staff
Surely the passport office has a database of passport holders. Why do the not do what the Drivers License Office and send out a reminder three or four months prior to the expiry date? Now that would shut up all the wingers.
@Irish big fellow: no, it wouldn’t shut them up. Unorganised people will still leave it until the last minute.
Let them take responsibility for their own lives.
@Irish big fellow: The service is there. However you have to create a reminder yourself as it’s not automated: https://www.eforms.gov.ie/en/reminder/passport/
@astjan: thank you for sharing that useful link. Hopefully the moaney holes will use that link and stop giving the ladies and gents at the passport office a hard time.
Outsource it, plenty of companies willing to take it on i bet, its the only way the process will improve permanently
@Adam Johnson: And then people would say the company that got it bribed somebody and complain about the money they make. Can’t win
What ever you do, do not go for passport express! They’ll tell you themselves it takes longer!
If they’re hiring temporary staff, why the hell will it take until January until they start? Why not start them next week? Sounds like a load of bullocks to me.
What ever you do, do not go for passport express! They’ll tell you themselves it takes longer!
Please help me. Received passport back in April with incorrect D.O.B. Have been trying to contact dept via phone email and twitter and not one response.
Heres a mad idea,if you renew your passport this summer instead of it being a 10 yr or whatever.Why dont they leave it at a figure whereby the renewal will not fall during the summer.Spread renewal dates out and charge more or less depending on how long its issued for.Its a vicious circle.Its busy because all the renewal dates are in the summer and people dont want to renew early as they are using the passport.
Renewed online. Brilliant service, took 2 days from start to receiving passport in the post.
Does anyone know if the information in the online passport tracker is accurate? It says I’ll have the passports in two weeks which is fine. Not sure whether to believe this and if/when I should begin to freak out.
@Olivia: I think it is accurate. You can’t get through by phone but if you keep refreshing their webchat page you’ll get through eventually. That’s what we did. They pulled it and processed it yesterday z we’re flying tomorrow. They won’t pull it and process it until the week of travel so don’t freak out too much. But you do need to contact them to let them know when you’re flying. Hope that helps.
@Orla van der Zaan: It does, thank a million, Orla :)
Done mine on line, was processed and sent out next day and arrived 2 weeks later in Australia,
Credit where credit is due!! I sent in two online renewal applications on a Thursday at 21.35, I received the two passports the following Monday morning. Beat that!!
If our politicians are the messengers for their constituents the the staff at the passport office must be prey upset of the messengers get such bigger wages. Politicians will do anything for a vote. Healy Rea took a huge chance riding a bike in Dublin as he would be a great target for people who don’t like his M.O.
Oh my
in my opinion why is there any reason that one has to wait so long for passport renewal with passport express especially if Iris born and bred and resident ? shouldn’t this system be already in control of their departments and staffing info? they already have our data on file aka PSC which is mandatory or is it not? giving this is the age of computers or simply doing it through the post office, also in this day and age it was easier to get renewal the old way, taking up to 8 weeks for passport express they should refund the extra charge for this if not done in the time they say! and no i haven’t been so silly to book a hol without checking if everyones passport was valid, before anyone tries to say other.. it’s a discrace in this day and age this is happening!
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