Over €1 million was spent on overtime at the State’s three passport offices last year, more than double the amount in 2019.
The passport service produced a record number of passports last year, with 1.08 million issued, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The previous all-time high was 935,000 passports in 2019.
There was €1,088,811 spent on overtime at the country’s passport offices last year. In 2021, €643,912 was spent on overtime at the offices, compared with €47,529 in 2020 and €432,298 in 2019, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
“The passport service uses overtime at periods of peak demand in order to maintain processing within the advertised turnaround times. Overtime may be utilised if and when demand requires it in 2023,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
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There are three passport offices in the State, at Mount Street in Dublin, Balbriggan in north Co Dublin and Cork city.
Turnaround times for online adult renewals was 10 working days, according to the department, and 15 working days for child online renewals.
Turnaround time for first-time online applications was 20 working days while it was eight weeks for An Post’s passport service.
“First-time online applications take longer to process, due to the necessary security checks,” the spokeswoman said.
“These are currently taking on average 20 working days. This processing time has been reduced by 50 per cent since March, when it was 40 working days.
“Turnaround times apply to fully complete passport applications and begin from the date supporting documents are received by the passport service, not the online registration date. Applications that are incomplete and require further supporting documents will take longer,” she said.
The department said the passport online system is the “quickest and most efficient way to apply for a passport”.
[ Lengthy delays in passport turnaround will not be repeated, department hopesOpens in new window ]
The Dáil heard earlier this year that holidaymakers were losing “thousands and thousands” of euro because of “chaos” in the passport service.
Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh said last June that problems with the service needed to be fixed as people were missing out on holidays as they couldn’t secure a passport in time.
Her party colleague, Wicklow TD John Brady, spoke of a man who contacted his constituency office “in a terrible state” and said he had attempted to contact the passport office “over 600 times by phone over two days in the last week”.
“On one day alone, he had tried calling 378 times as he watched the clock ticking down towards the flight for a family holiday,” Mr Brady said.
“Needless to say he didn’t get a hold of anyone on the phone. Unfortunately he or his family did not make that holiday away. This is a reality for many resulting in considerable financial loss.”
