TD for Dublin Mid-West Eoin O’Broin TD has expressed deep concern at the failure of the government to put in place provisions to address the backlog of passport applications in Dublin, particularly for children. While delays in the system aren’t as long or for adults, the waiting times for children are at a frustratingly high level.
Figures obtained at the end of the Summer showed over 15,000 outstanding applications in County Dublin, alone.
Teachta O’Broin said: “The writing was on the wall in front of government, many months ago in relation to passport applications. The office needs to be resourced adequately and citizens deserve a system that can give them a legitimate expectation as to when their document will be ready. “Many families in our community are eager to see loved ones who they’ve been separated from for the last 18 months. Without an application system that we can trust to give accurate waiting times – it is impossible for these people to plan around work and other commitments.”
‘There also appears to be a particular problem with the passport offices online photo download facility. Many people are finding that despite the photo being accepted, two weeks later they are told the photo was actually rejected. It appears that there is a web browser issue. ‘Unfortunately a two week delay in processing time can make the difference between being able to travel to an important family event abroad, such as a funeral, and missing such events.’
“There can be no doubt as to the effort that the staff and management in the passport service are putting in to deal with the backlog accrued over Covid, this is a failure of government to properly resource the passport office.” “I am calling on Minister Simon Coveney, to fix this by resourcing the office correctly and thus, allow people to see the ones they have been kept away from for so long.”
