Calls for urgent upscaling of passport service as 1.7m applications due in the coming months

Labour TD Sean Sherlock has called for a second passport printing office in Cork.

Calls have been made to set up a second passport printing machine in Cork to deal with a massive influx of applications already this year.

As the country reopens and families rush to book foreign summer holidays, the passport office is set to be flooded with up to 1.7m applications in the coming weeks and months.

Senator Garret Ahearn, who along with his Fine Gael colleagues are tabling a Seanad motion this week demanding an urgent upscaling of the service. He has said passport office should now operate seven days a week, up from the current five, to clear the backlog.

Meanwhile, Labour TD Sean Sherlock has called for a second passport printing office in Cork, which would facilitate people in Munster who are seeking emergency travel documents.

"There is huge pressure on the passport office at the moment to turn around passports and there are especially delays with first-time passports for children," he said.

Another machine, based in the Cork office, would take the pressure off the Dublin machines and be able to service not just Cork but the wider Munster and Southern area of the country.

"It would also allow for collections of passports to recommence in the Cork office for urgent situations."

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has been asked to answer questions on the delays in passport processing in the Seanad this week.

Fine Gael senators have tabled a motion which calls on the Government to increase the number of staff to 900 as quickly as possible and to implement a system whereby citizens can collect their passport from a Passport Service public office on request, in cases of emergency and urgent travel, where the passport will not be received in time for travel through the postal system.

Reduce bureaucracy

The group also believe changes should be made to the passport application process that could reduce bureaucracy.

The motion calls on Mr Coveney to implement a system that allows for the fast processing of additional documents requested by the Passport Service, ensuring that applications that are incomplete are processed within three weeks once the required additional documents are submitted.

It can currently take up to 40 working days to process complex passport requests, such as first-time applications.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it has been actively working with the Public Appointments Service to recruit additional permanent and temporary staff for assignment to the Passport Service, doubling the number of staff employed there.