Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Eighty-two percent of passports are issued within the ten day commitment. What happened with the other 18%? Was the delay because there were not enough staff or because of a mistake or omission in the application? I am aware that in some cases - for example, in the case of a passport for a person who is under age - a reference must be submitted and if that person cannot be contacted, the application is not processed. As a result, the ten days pass and even 20 days go by. However, no message is sent back to applicants to inform them that the office cannot verify that they are who they say they are. I am concerned the process is not as streamlined as it could be. I do not know why the success rate is only 82%. Why is it not 100%? If we could answer that, it might clarify the issue. Could it be that some applicants made a mistake and omitted vital information?