REVEALED: New figures show how many Longford people are waiting on passports

There are over six hundred Longford people awaiting passports.

According to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD there are 619 applications from county Longford in the system, 354 are being processed and 265 applications require further action from the applicant.  

Five Fianna Fáil TDs, Joe Flaherty, Willie O'Dea, Jackie Cahill, Jennifer Murnane O'Connor and Barry Cowen, on Tuesday, May 10, tabled parliamentary questions asking Minister Coveney  for an update on the number of passport applications from counties Longford, Westmeath, Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Laois and Offaly, that are currently outstanding. 

Earlier this week, Minister Coveney said that the huge demand for passports as people begin to travel abroad again has led to “pressure on the system”, particularly for first-time passport applications.

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Mr Coveney said: “Because there are so many people applying for both renewals and new passports at the moment, it is putting some pressure on the system.”

He said that 900 people would be working in the Passport Office this summer – double the 460 staff working in it last year.

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“So far this year, we’ve issued half a million passports, which is 80% of where we were in the whole of last year.

“Last month, there was 170,000 passports issued, which is considerably more than ever before in history.”