“IT’s damn near impossible”, for people to get a response from the Department of Foreign Affairs over passport renewal timelines, a Clare cllr has claimed.
Cllr David Griffin (FF) was speaking at the July meeting of Clare County Council where he motioned that “the Minister for Foreign Affairs implements more transparent timelines and service level agreements for passport applicants to improve the service delivery to the general public”.
The Newmarket-On-Fergus based cllr spoke of the difficulties faced by passport applicants online with the current system which illustrates the passport application process through a percentage marker. “You end up going around it in circles over and over and over again, just trying to get something simple right. They do great work generally if it’s straight forward”, outlined Griffin.
“We need to have a more structured turnaround time. If you were in the private sector and you were uploading documentation work from home that had a system, once it hit the system there would be a set time frame where it would be visible. There would be a set time frame when somebody would look at it and there would be a set timeframe decision. This kind of sitting there for days and days on end with no update is not acceptable. It’s not rocket science, it causes so much stress and anxiety for people. It’s overly bureaucratic”, the Shannon LEA representative added.
Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) supported the motion, expressing her agreement with her party colleague’s motion and adding that the current passport application process seems “incredibly archaic”.
Cllr Dinny Gould (IND) also spoke in support of the motion and highlighted the frustration amongst applicants when applying for passports online. “It’s very confusing because they’re watching the thing online go up by so many percent, they think it’s going to come and next thing it’s not coming. If it’s posted out then, it’s too late. People have to drive from any part of Clare to collect the thing in Dublin because they’re afraid it won’t come. It should be addressed in the Dail”, the West Clare man added.
