New plans to be brought into force by the Irish Government will make passport production an “essential service”.
There is currently a backlog of 89,000 includes passport applications including some 44,000 domestic applications and 45,000 applications from outside the State.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney told RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland that 430,000 passports had been processed during the pandemic but because of health and safety recommendations on maintaining distance, only a third of staff had been able to work “on the floor” processing passport applications.
He said that when the Passport Office was “fully up and running” they could process 120,000 applications in a month, so he expected the backlog could be cleared “within weeks”.
Mr Coveney acknowledged that passports were required for many purposes other than travel and as such the Passport Office was an essential service.
This week Mr Coveney will ask the Cabinet to deem passport production an essential service meaning a substantial backlog will be cleared more efficiently.
The Dáil last week heard criticisms from a Government TD about the backlog.
