PIC: Queue For Passport Office Before It’s Open Shows Crisis Irish Holidaymakers Currently Facing

RTÉ is reporting that the top civil servant at the Department of Foreign Affairs has been forced to apologise following the busiest months in passport service history.

This comes after latest figures show that those looking for first time passports, or to replace lost of stolen ones, took between 21 to 40 days to process.

All others were dealt within 21 days.

Online applications have been found to be much shorter with 90,000 out of 100,000 online applications in 2018 being processed in ten working days.

However, the boss of the Department of Foreign Affairs has said that some applications have taken up to two months to process and has apologised for the wait.

Niall Burgess has said that he expects renewals for children's passports to be made available online by the end of 2018.

Here's a picture of the queue for the passport office on Tuesday morning, before it had opened:

The Irish Passport office have issued some tips so that you won't end up panicking over your passport last minute before you go on holidays:

• Look before you book
• Save time, renew online
• If you have travel planned book a Passport Appointment online to submit your application.
• Protect your passport.

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