Passport Service Delays: Consumer Advice

Business & Finance - Consumer

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 18:11

Written by Mark Dunphy

The Irish Passport Service has issued an apology to customers for the disruption of service and inconvenience caused by ongoing industrial action.

The Office has issued the following advice:

1. It is no longer possible to guarantee a turnaround time for the issuing of passports. Projected turnaround times for the issuing of passports will be posted on the Passport Service website: www.passport.ie

2. The 10 day guarantee for receipt of applications submitted through the Passport Express service provided by An Post and the Royal Mail is suspended until further notice.

3. Passports received through these services will be processed on a first come first served basis. Applications submitted by Passport Express are currently being processed between 10 and 15 days of receipt.

4. It will not be possible to fast-track any application other than in a case of genuine family emergency, in which case proof will be required that travel is necessitated by the death, illness or welfare of a family member. The issuing of passports in such emergencies is not affected by the industrial dispute.

5. The public counters and out of hours services should only be used by those who have a necessity to travel for reasons of family emergency.

6. All other applications should be submitted through the Passport Express channel.

7. Customers should retain the barcode number on their passport application or the customer service number provided by the postal service and use this number to check the status of their application on the Passport Service website: www.passport.ie.

8. The requirement that applicants submit their existing passport with their application for a new passport has been temporarily suspended in cases where the current passport has not yet fully expired. In such cases, customers should include a photocopy of the personal details pages of the current passport with their application for a new passport.

9. Before making any overseas travel plans, customers should check the expiry dates of their own passport and the passports of persons on whose behalf they are making bookings. If a passport has expired or has insufficient validity to allow completion of the planned journey (bearing in mind that some States require persons entering their territory to have a minimum remaining validity on their passport), an application for renewal should be submitted now and in sufficient time that the new passport can be received before the intended date of travel.

10. The current industrial action has seen closure of the public offices and/or telephone services at short notice. Updates will therefore only be available on the Passport Service website: www.passport.ie