Agreement to tackle passport backlog

THE Department of Foreign Affairs and the union representing Passport Office staff have agreed a formula for the recruitment of temporary staff to address the 61,000 backlog in passport applications.

After more than 13 hours of negotiations under the mediation of Labour Relations Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey, it was recommended that 50 staff would be drafted in to handle the peak summer demand and clear the backlog.

The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU), which represents Passport Office staff, is to put that to its members for agreement on Monday and Tuesday.

In addition, as requested by the union, the Department of Foreign Affairs has agreed that those members of the public who need their passports immediately will be given priority over those whose travel plans mean their demand is less urgent.

The CPSU had said its members had recently been told by management that they had to deal with applications on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Teresa Dwyer of CPSU welcomed the decision on prioritisation.

She said the inability to cater to those with an urgent demand had created stress both for the affected public and her members.

“The new arrangements will come into effect from Monday,” she said.

On the issue of temporary staff she said the union had never had any problem with the department drafting in extra staff to cover the busier summer demand.

However, what had been unacceptable to the union, she said, was that those staff would often be kept on on rolling monthly contracts when, in such a circumstance, they should be made full-time staff.

According to the union there have been issues about staffing needs between permanent and temporary staff for some time and over the last five years it has resulted in Labour Court and High Court proceedings under the EU Fixed Term Work Directive.

“A commitment has been given by Kieran Mulvey that he will conduct a review of the staffing situation in December,” she said.