A backlog of passport applications will be cleared in 6 to 8 weeks.
That's according to the head of the passport office.
The Government has deemed it an essential service.
So work is underway to scale up its operation.
We Can Clear This In A Few Weeks
Siobhan Byrne from the Passport Office says there are just under 90,000 applications on hand.
Which will be processed in the coming weeks:
"At the peak of any other year, we'd be processing about 100,000 passports in a month."
"In the busiest month of the year."
"So we're very well equipped with our processes and systems to manage high volumes of applications."
"Obviously there are ongoing challenges with Covid, and the amount of resources we can have on site."
"But we're very confident we can clear the current backlog in six to eight weeks."
