But uk has 14 times irelands population so that would equate to a 40k backlog if dealing with irish population. However passport office has 195k backlog almost 5 times the pro rata uk figuresToday's (London) Times mentions a current backlog of 500,000 passports in the UK! So the problem is not unique to Ireland - although I know that's not much consolation for the people who are waiting.
Yes. How different is it with the only exception being the use of a photograph to verify ID? After all, you don't need a human to check your passport once it is issued, that can (and is) often done automatically at many airports around the world. My arguement is that the process, as it stands, where applications are "verified" by a person who is never checked (in my case, I have legitimately signed at least 10 forms over the years and no one has even contacted me to confirm it) is totally open to abuse and is probably being abused.Nothing dark ages about it. Being able to confirm a witness is who they say they are is an important part of the security process involved in issuing a passport. Being able to confirm the landline is useful to that process. Having a redirected landline, physical or VOIP is perfectly acceptable.
Are you honestly comparing the security requirements of opening a bank account with the issuing of a passport?
I've never said they signed the form illegally, my point that I am trying and seemingly failing to make, is that someone is entitled to sign a form because of their percieved role in life and they are deemed "more honest" then an ordinary Joe Soap.And in those cases I presume that witness was prosecuted on discovery, and likely lost their jobs as a result of a criminal conviction. Up to 10 years in jail for supplying false information on a passport application.
But uk has 14 times irelands population so that would equate to a 40k backlog if dealing with irish population. However passport office has 195k backlog almost 5 times the pro rata uk figures
I agree that customers need to take greater care. But not all the errors are the exclusive fault of the applicants.A huge issue is the number of errors on applications.
My cousin works in DFA and she said that some people skip over questions as if they didn't matter and the number is in the multiple of thousands.
Some forget to send photos, some don't get the photos signed, some don't get Garda signature.
It's as if they think the questions are optional. Then they blame someone else.
But there has to be a better way - even having a dedicated passport Garda on set hours in primary Garda stations who also checks all parts are filled.
I agree that customers need to take greater care. But not all the errors are the exclusive fault of the applicants.
Moreover, some errors are compounded by the poor systems in the Passport Office.
A Garda witness error in my application was not notified to me for months and when I eventually got through to them over the phone (a near impossible task) to establish the cause of the delay, it was only then that the error was identified to me. The online tracking system didn’t identify the error and simply stated for months that my application was “being processed”. I should have received an error notification email when it was first identified but alas, I didn’t.
Having rectified that error, the submitted photo - which had been approved by their online system - turned out to be unacceptable as their own system cropped the top of the photo such as to render it unacceptable.
I’m now awaiting a resubmission link to be emailed to me for nearly two weeks, despite being advised that I could expect it within 5 working days.
It looks like we will have to travel to Dublin from the west and make an emergency travel appointment to be sure we can travel abroad during the summer. The application was first submitted on 4 January.
Thanks @Groucho , I might just do that. The priority is to get the darned passport though.That sounds like the kind of unacceptable customer service that Michael Ring was (rightly) critical of on Morning Ireland yesterday. If you've the time, why not complain to the Ombudsman about your experience? That way, the DFA will be called to account over it, rather than it simply disappearing into the ether.
If you apply online you are forced to fill in all relevant boxes. And then you get your passport 2-3 DAYS later.Thanks @Groucho , I might just do that. The priority is to get the darned passport though.
I get annoyed with media reports that “it’s all the customer’s fault”, and “we process all correct applications in x days” when the applications with errors remain unprocessed for months.
I did apply online. Daughter’s renewal (she’s a minor). “Complex” application apparently.If you apply online you are forced to fill in all relevant boxes. And then you get your passport 2-3 DAYS later.
The issue is first time passports that require extra scrutiny and not enough staff there to check them in a timely manner.
Then those with errors (literally tens of thousands) have to be processed back to the sender for rectification and then returned back.
So a combination of more staff and some way of scrutinising the application locally would get rid of the backlog.
Hence using key Garda stations with a couple of specific gardai or DFA officials at specific hours to deal comprehensively with first passport queries and checking and stamped as such, may be one option.
It's not "fallacious" how can you say that, at most only 10% are new applicants from NI and UK and those are from 2019 figures when the Brexit factor would have been at it's peak, if anything those applicants would have dropped substantially by now as Brexit is nearly 2 years ago now. You have also forgot about the UK overseas applicants for UK passports, sure isn't there a million UK expats in Spain and Portugal alone not to mention the rest of Europe, Australia and Canada, almost all applying for UK passports for their foreign born childrenFallacious. You're assuming there that all of the applicants are Irish residents However a significant proportion of them aren't, which is part of the problem.
So point to where someone has willingly risked 10 year for supplying false information?I've never said they signed the form illegally, my point that I am trying and seemingly failing to make, is that someone is entitled to sign a form because of their percieved role in life and they are deemed "more honest" then an ordinary Joe Soap.
So what? It's witnessing we're talking about, not character references, and somebody has to do it. Wallace for example is in an ideal position to know plenty of people, as were all the others in their time.Let me put it another way, Mick Wallace is considered an appropriate person to witness such a form, Charlie Haughy was, Ray Bourke was, Fr Tony Walsh was.
Panic over.I agree that customers need to take greater care. But not all the errors are the exclusive fault of the applicants.
Moreover, some errors are compounded by the poor systems in the Passport Office.
A Garda witness error in my application was not notified to me for months and when I eventually got through to them over the phone (a near impossible task) to establish the cause of the delay, it was only then that the error was identified to me. The online tracking system didn’t identify the error and simply stated for months that my application was “being processed”. I should have received an error notification email when it was first identified but alas, I didn’t.
Having rectified that error, the submitted photo - which had been approved by their online system - turned out to be unacceptable as their own system cropped the top of the photo such as to render it unacceptable.
I’m now awaiting a resubmission link to be emailed to me for nearly two weeks, despite being advised that I could expect it within 5 working days.
It looks like we will have to travel to Dublin from the west and make an emergency travel appointment to be sure we can travel abroad during the summer. The application was first submitted on 4 January.
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