Demands For More Passport Office Staff To Deal With "Emergency Backlog"

Demands are being made for more staff to be deployed to the passport office.

Around 1.7 million passport applications are expected to be made in the weeks and months ahead as people book holidays abroad as Covid restrictions ease.

First time applicants are experiencing severe delays, with many parents struggling to get their child's documents processed.

Fine Gael Senator Garret Ahearn has described the situation as a 'passport emergency' and says more staff are needed.

An Irish passport and Express Post red label are seen in September 2019. Picture by: bincidaphoto / Alamy Stock Photo

To avoid future backlogs he said consideration should be given to a reminder email system - similar to the process in place for paying motor tax.

Alternatively, Senator Ahearn says the issue could be tackled at an industry level.

In this scenario, airlines could ask for your passport number at the booking stage, therefore forcing people to check if there pass is due to expire.

Earlier this week the Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said there are currently 100,000 online applications and 13,000 paper applications on hand with the Passport Service