Passport Office to operate extended hours to deal with surge in applications

It is understood that the Passport Office will not operate the full seven days each week to clear a backlog. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

The Passport Office will now operate extended hours to deal with a record surge in applications.

The service has come under unprecedented pressure as individuals and families plan trips abroad and foreign summer holidays.

In January alone there were 137,452 passport applications made — this was around 35,000 more than the previous monthly record.

Reacting to calls for the Passport Service to work seven days a week, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said: "Through the provision of overtime to Passport Service staff, this was done for an extended period last year. From this week on, we will recommence overtime in a structured and targeted way, focusing primarily on first-time applications."

However, it is understood that the office will not operate the full seven days each week, and instead staff have been given the option of doing overtime, including on Saturdays.

Speaking in the Seanad, Mr Coveney strongly urged anyone who is considering travelling overseas this year, especially families with young children, to check the validity of their passports before booking travel and to apply for their passports online in plenty of time.

"I cannot emphasise that point enough," he said.

If an application is online, we can do all sorts of things with the system when there is an urgent need to get that passport through the process quickly. If it is a paper application, it is a much more complicated process, and it stalls the whole system when we try to find a paper application that is out of the ordinary.

"Online applications are what we need to do."

Separately, Tipperary senator Garret Ahearn has called on airlines to introduce online passport expiry checks in order to avoid passenger disappointment and missed flights as the demand for foreign travel increases.

“We’re facing into a period of huge demand for passport renewals, unlike anything we’ve ever seen in recent years," he said. 

While only 634,000 passports were issued in 2021 due to the pandemic, it is expected that demand will now soar with between 1.3m and 1.7m passports due to be delivered this year.

“In addition to the increased demand, after almost two years of very little international travel, there will inevitably be many people who forget their passports are out of date. We don’t want to see situations up and down the country where people have to cancel trips because of expired passports."