Passport application delays

NoRegretsCoyote said:
The backlog will be cleared by the autumn. After that just submit in January/February when it's quiet.

April-July is always peak season as people wake up and realise they have to go on holiday.
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When I worked in Dublin City centre, I would often see the queues outside the old Passport Office on Molesworth Street during the summer months. Invariably it was the late-teens/early twenties brigade realising that they actually needed a passport to travel to Santa Ponsa for their week in the sun. Never any queues at other times of the year.
 
I'm in a total cul de sac with the Passport Office! My wife's application link expired and and the request for a new one has locked her in to a cycle where no new link was provided/received and they wont reissue another one due one supposedly being sent! The phone line hangs up on you, the webchat is 'apparently' available but there is no access link on the website and they are "busy helping customers" and the emergency email contact gives you a PFO if not an emergency.

Anybody have any advice for contacting the Passport office? Should she start a new application and pay the fee again?
 
Itchy said:
We've been trying this for the last 10 days and its been the same!
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My guess is that half the country has an expired passport and wants to travel next week.

As a general rule a friend of mine who worked in a call centre says that the first30 minutes of the day are always the best to try and make contact. Afternoons worst.
 
It has been extraordinary poor setup over the past year. Some renewals flowed quickly, but anyone needing documents or their first passport for a child were basically given an undetermined delay, a totally unacceptable response I would expect only in a place like North Korea. They just assume everyone is going to Ibiza and there is no other real life reason people need to move around so leave people in total uncertainty, for example, leaving young kids unable to leave the island to see elderly grandparents for almost two years, (but its ok to travel to their funeral after the grandparents die), totally wrong for a western country.

I had to get onto a TD. I think it is Coveney's office. Also worth getting onto the embassy at the other end if you have business/family/genuine purpose for travel.
 
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We're going to France in 2 weeks and my son's passport is stuck in the queue. It was supposed to have been issued last week. Wasn't overly concerned until a friend told me his daughter's was in there 5 weeks. He's going away next week. It's just been changed to printer status.
 
Got my son's passport today. Yesterday, it changed from processing to printing to issued. An Post delivered it at 08:30 this morning.

While the online system is great, especially for adults, you need to leave yourself plenty of time. We were very worried that we would have to cancel our holiday next week. Very hard to get through on the phone. My wife spoke to someone on Wednesday who told her we shouldn't have booked without a passport. Never mind that we applied well before the turnaround times that they have published on their website.
 
Would love peoples insight who have already received a passport. We submitted a childrens renewal on the 12th July and by the 15th it moved to processing with an estimated date of Aug 6th. Now it has reverted to on hold pending documentation again after 2 weeks of processing. Ive received no email as to what doumentation is needed so not sure what is going on
 
We have an issue date of the 23rd August although we travel on the 17th August it is a child's passport renewal and it says processing. Is there anyway to get this on time for the 17th? The people on the webchat seem to have no access to any more information than is on the website. Phoning is a nightmare but there seems to be no access to data there. Where can we get a realistic update?
 
Itchy said:
Maybe I'm not seeing this correctly but there is no access link for the webchat? https://www.dfa.ie/passports/contact/



We've been trying this for the last 10 days and its been the same!
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Child's passport application ended up taking nine weeks in total.

We phoned the PO just before they opened and usually got through within a half hour. That was in August, in July it seemed impossible to contact them. Once we got through, the communication was clear and knowledgeable (some people had been drafted in to assist the office, so may be unfamiliar with the processes). It seems that they will prioritise applications that are taking longer than eight weeks.
 
Does anyone have recent experience of turnaround times for a child passport renewal via Passport Express? Thanks.
 
DO IT ONLINE! I could not believe what happened. My daughter turned 18 and her passport was out. She got her photo taken at one of the authorised photo shops that give you a reference code and a hard copy.
She applied online with the supplied code. Expected date was weeks away. It landed in the letterbox 48 hours later. I could not believe it! Fantastic set up.
 
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