Turnaround time for issuing new passports to be reduced from next week

Just in time for summer.

The Director of Passport Services at the Department of Foreign Affairs has said that the turnaround time for the issuing of new passports will be reduced by five days next week. Siobhán Byrne appeared on Today with Claire Byrne on Wednesday (13 April) as 1.4 million passport applications are expected to be received by the Irish Passport Service in 2022. The Director said that February was a record month for passport applications with 153,000 submitted. She said that so far this year, 470,000 applications have been received and close to 400,000 passports have been issued. After reports of delays in the processing of applications were addressed on the show, the Director was asked what the current turnaround time is for issuing new passports. "The current turnaround time for issuing new passports is 35 days," Siobhán Byrne replied. "But I'm happy to say that from next Tuesday (19 April), we're going to reduce that turnaround time to 30 days which is good news for people applying for applications for their babies and other first-time applicants. "We're reducing our turnaround time to 30 days and that's because we're producing more passports on a daily basis than we're actually receiving," she added. "We're a little bit ahead of the dates that are on the system." The Director said the Irish Passport Service was able to shorten the wait time due to an increase in staffing. "We are currently working through a recruitment campaign internally ourselves to recruit additional staff," she explained. "But we've also been working quite hard with the Public Appointment Service for the last few months in the recruitment of staff. "Both of those are working in tandem at the moment trying to reach our target of over 900 staff." However, she also said the desired turnaround for new passport applications is 20 working days, something which the service is "aiming very hard to reach". The Director's comments come after the Irish passport was deemed one of the most powerful in the world last week, polling in fifth place in a ranking from the Henley Passport Index.