Irish citizens planning summer travel have been urged to check their passports are in date to avoid delay in getting a new one, with almost quarter of a million issued so far this year.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee particularly appealed to those with a newborn or child getting a passport for the first time to apply now because such online applications require at least 20 working days.
She stressed the turnaround times apply to “fully complete and correct” applications and begin from the time the supporting documents are received by the passport service, not from the date the online application is made.
For paper applications, it could take eight weeks or more, when there are “challenges” such as pictures not being correct, “something has not been signed, or there is an issue with the paperwork itself”, she said.
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McEntee urged people to apply online because it could be done 24/7 and appealed to TDs to “advise on their social media channels or in whatever way they can encourage people to check their passports to make sure they are in date”.
She also revealed that 224,000 passports have been issued to date this year and pointed to a 75 per cent increase in passport service staff from 468 to 822 over the past five years.
For those planning travel, the department’s security advice continues a red warning alert for countries in the Middle East region because of the US-Israel-led war on Iran.
Citizens are advised against all travel to Israel, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Palestine. And they are also counselled against non-essential travel to Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Those planning travel to Turkey, a popular destination, are advised to “exercise a high degree of caution at all times” and not to travel within 10km of the border between that country and Syria.
Irish citizens are also advised against “all but essential travel” in Turkey’s Hatay, Kilis and Sirnak provinces.
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Referring to first-time applications for infants and children, McEntee said it is “much more difficult” to deal with them quickly.
Ten working days is the set time for standard online adult renewals, but most people get them much sooner. “It is 15 working days for complex or child online renewals” and although the time taken “tends to be somewhat shorter, these are the average lengths”.
Raising the issue in the Dáil, Fianna Fáil TD Ryan O’Meara said so many issues raised by constituents with public representatives concerned about paper applications.
He called for Garda stations to be alerted to ensure that if somebody arrived with a paper passport application for Garda verification, they could be guided towards an online application.
Last year, 93 per cent of applications used the online service, when close to a million new passports were issued.
