Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said the Passport Service is working to improve turnaround time after "effectively doubling" staff to cope with huge demand.
Speaking on RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland, Mr Coveney said he was conscious of the fact people are travelling this summer in larger number than the last two Covid-hit years.
He said there are around 7,000 passports being issued every day, with close to 600,000 passports issued so far this year.
"But the passports that take most time are first time applicants and the start of the year that was taking 40 working days. We now have it down to 25 working days, and we will continue to try and improve those turnaround times.
"We have effectively doubled the personnel (in the Passport Office). We have a new arrangement with An Garda Siochana now to fast track the verification processes which had been resulting in delays and of course we have put in dozens more people on the call line.
"We are working around the clock to deliver passports on time. There has been a fifty to sixty percent increase in passport applications this year. We are responding to that by people a lot more people on the job, and we will continue that."
