Public urged to renew passports well ahead of travel as demand soars

FIANNA Fáil TD Aindrias Moynihan has reported a soar in demand for Irish passports as Corkonians scramble to book summer holidays.

The Cork North-West TD is urging people to check or renew (if required) their passports as early as possible to avoid unnecessary delays.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin informed Mr Moynihan in the Dáil that more than 5,000 people a day were applying for passports in January alone after increasing from an average of 1,400 a day in December.

2022 was a record year for demand, with more than one million passports issued.

Deputy Moynihan is warning Corkonians to make the necessary steps to be holiday-ready as soon as possible.

“Passport application numbers have soared,” he said. “Applications have more than trebled since the start of the year so anyone who needs a passport should apply well ahead of when they want to travel. 

"People should also keep in mind that if they’re applying for the first time or if they’re applying for a child’s passport that it can take extra time.”

He warned that the situation may worsen.

“At the moment all processing times for online applications are in line with normal pre-Covid processing times. But that may not be the case later in the year so people should renew their passports now if needed.”

Tánaiste Micheál Martin issued a response to a parliamentary question put forward by Mr Moynihan in relation to the matter.

“2022 was an exceptionally busy year for the Passport Service, with over 1,085,000 passports issued,” Mr Martin said.

“2023 is set to be a similarly busy year. In recent weeks, there has been a marked increase in applications received, signifying that the next busy season for passports is commencing.

“Applications have increased from an average of 1,400 per day in December to almost 5,000 per day in recent weeks. In total, the passport service has issued over 61,000 passports to date this year. There are currently 56,000 fully complete applications in the system.”