THE BACKLOG of passport applications brought about following industrial action by civil servants over pay cuts has climbed to 66,000, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
This is an increase of 16,000 in the number of unprocessed applications since the end of March.
A spokeswoman for the department attributed the accumulation at the Passport Office in Dublin to industrial action last month and an increase in applications being received on a weekly basis. “The Passport Office is receiving 4,000 applications a day; this is an increase of 24.8 per cent on this time last year.”
She said the increase in applications this month compared to the same period last year, was “contributing hugely” to the backlog.
She added that workers were processing 3,000 applications daily but this was still a shortfall of 1,000 on the numbers received as the busy summer holiday period approaches.
The spokeswoman said Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) workers at the office were answering telephone queries, but she warned not all calls were being answered due to the huge volumes of people trying to contact the office daily.
Yesterday, callers to the office were greeted by an answering machine message which said: “Due to extreme congestion we cannot take your call right now.”
CPSU general secretary Blair Horan claimed a “fatal delay” in pay talks between the union and Government had led to the huge backlog in passport applications.
Speaking to The Irish Times, he said an overtime ban at the office had been removed, while counter closures and an embargo on answering telephones had been suspended.
However, he said limited industrial action was still in place. Mr Horan was unable to clarify whether a plan had been put in place to clear the applications or whether staff were working overtime.
Mr Horan warned full-scale industrial action could resume if union members vote against the pay and reform deal in the coming ballot.
On Monday, the executives of the CPSU recommended rejection of the public service pay deal to members.
Members of the public seeking passports are advised to send applications in via Passport Express.
The department said applications sent through this method are taking about 20 working days to process, with An Post no longer guaranteeing a turnaround of 10 working days.