“I’M HOPPING mad,” said Dubliner Billie Traynor, one of hundreds of people queuing for a passport on Dublin’s Molesworth Street yesterday.
“I have little sympathy for the workers . . . I work in the arts and we’re affected too,” she added.
Hers was one of 40,000 applications that were backlogged. Some of those with immediate travel plans queued outside the office from as early as 3am, staying as close as they could to the door, even through a lunchtime bomb scare.
Noreen Tierney from Castlebar, Co Mayo, left her home at 4am to travel to the office in Dublin. “My passport isn’t out of date but I was told to renew it for six months . . . It was supposed to be processed and ready to go on March 11th, but I still haven’t heard anything.”
Angela Reville travelled from Wexford after been told not to apply via “passport express”.
“Somebody’s going to have to cover the cost of my flights if I don’t get my passport,” she said. “My brother’s a teacher and my sister-in-law is a nurse so I have sympathy with them, but at the same time we’re suffering the follies of others. People are losing money on holidays, it’s disgraceful.”
Deirdre Keogh, Ratoath, Co Meath, said she had been queuing for a passport for her son since 6.50am. “I just discovered my son’s passport is out of date and he’s due to go on a school trip to Italy on Thursday.”
Paula Hicks, due to go to Zurich on a business trip on Thursday morning, was also queuing. “I applied for a new passport on March 8th via passport express, which is only supposed to take 10 days. I don’t feel very hopeful, but . . . I really feel for all those families who paid their hard-earned cash to go on holidays and now they can’t.”
Orderly queues turned to angry scenes at lunchtime, when a bomb scare led to the evacuation of people from the building.
Some 50 to 60 people were evacuated shortly before 1pm, with a section of this group refusing to move from the door, chanting: “What do we want? We want our passports now!”
As tensions mounted, a visibly distressed Thomas Sherlock, who had travelled from Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, told reporters he was threatened with arrest after refusing to leave the building without his passport.
Mr Sherlock said he needed a passport in order to fly with his partner to the Czech Republic at 6am this morning. “My partner’s dad died . . . she will have to bury her dad without me for support if I can’t go.”
Criticising the industrial action by Passport Office workers, he said: “I work in car sales. If I didn’t answer my phone I’d be told to go home.”
Shortly before 2pm, a security official announced a sweep of the building had been completed, the bomb scare had been declared a hoax and that the processing of applications would recommence.
A round of applause erupted throughout the queue a short time later as one woman exiting the building shouted: “Yes! We got it!”
Encouraging people queuing, the woman said: “How dare they hold what is legally mine? I sat in there and I fought for my passport until I got it.”
Relief was the word of the day for another tired member of the public as he exited the Passport Office, passport in hand, after queuing since 5am, in order to attend a family wedding in Durban, South Africa.
Meanwhile, a bomb scare that closed the Passport Office for almost an hour yesterday is under investigation, gardaí have said. Gardaí said they were investigating a report of an alleged suspect device at the building.
A spokesman said they couldn’t reveal whether the report had been telephoned in, or received by another means, “for operational reasons”.
The security alert was declared a hoax shortly before 2pm after a sweep of the building. A security official said: “We’ve done a sweep . . . It was a hoax.”
The alert triggered the evacuation of more than 50 people who were in the building at the time. Consequently, the evacuation led to angry scenes, with people anxious not to lose their place in the queue.
Molesworth Street, which had been closed to traffic, reopened after lunch following the sweep of the premises.
NO VALID PASSPORT? Travel restrictions in operation
Those without a valid passport because of the backlog in applications have been advised not to attempt to travel to continental Europe even by ferry. Overall, options are very limited for those affected by the dispute at the Passport Office.
TRAVEL TO THE UK
While Irish citizens can travel to Britain using a valid form of photo ID, different travel companies have different requirements.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus says the company allows passengers to travel to Britain if they had some form of official photo identification including a driving licence, international student card, Government-issued ID card, health insurance or social security card, bus pass or work ID.
Irish citizens under the age of 16 do not require a photo ID if they are travelling to Britain with their parent/guardian.
However, citizens of countries other than Ireland and Britain must produce a valid passport and visa where applicable, for travel between Ireland and Britain.
Ryanair requires all passengers travelling to Britain to have a valid passport. A spokesman said yesterday there was “no question” of the airline altering this position.
“As an airline flying to more than 26 countries and carrying over 70 nationalities daily, there is no question of our agreed passport requirement to be altered or waived. It’s the Government’s job to issue passports and not Ryanair’s job to cover for Government incompetence,” he said.
TRAVEL WITHIN EUROPE
The Department of Foreign Affairs says Irish citizens require a valid passport to travel to all European countries apart from Britain due to Ireland’s decision to opt out of the Schengen Agreement.
The Schengen Agreement abolishes internal borders allowing passport-free movement between 22 EU states and three other European countries (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland).However Ireland and Britain chose to maintain border controls with other EU countries and are therefore outside the Schengen area.
TRAVEL OUTSIDE EUROPE/US
A valid passport is required to travel to all countries outside Europe, including the US, the department says.
TRAVELLING BY FERRY
While ferry passengers to continental Europe are not always required to produce a passport, a spokesman for Irish Ferries says no one should attempt to travel without a passport. Those who did so risked being turned back.
“Nobody would be advised to leave Ireland without a passport . . . many people have been sent back in the past without proper documentation. People should recognise that the ferry passport system as being airport-like in terms of its strictness and security,” he said.
PASSPORT EXTENSIONS
The Department of Foreign Affairs says there are no plans to give extensions to people whose passports had recently expired, despite recent calls by Fine Gael for emergency travel certificates to be issued under the provisions of the Passport Act 2008.
A spokesman for the department said the proposal held “little scope”.
“An emergency travel certificate only allows for a single one-way trip. Furthermore, they are not accepted in the USA. Under international agreements, the maximum validity of any passport is 10 years and therefore cannot be extended,” he said.
TRAVEL INSURANCE
Travellers who have to cancel trips because of the dispute are unlikely to be able to claim their money back through travel insurance.
"The cancellation of your holiday due to failure to obtain a passport is generally not covered under travel insurance policies," a spokesman for the Irish Insurance Federation said yesterday. -
Pamela Duncan