Despite what you hear in the media, it’s not all doom and gloom in the passport office services, where Fórsa members are dealing with 4,000 to 6,000 passport applications a day.

It’s expected that there will be 1.4 million passport applications this year compared to a previous high of 900,000.

They’re doing this without the benefits that other civil servants can access in other offices. In many sections of the office staff have restrictions on leave and family-friendly policies and no access to blended working.

This is a standard feature of the job, but passport staff have been stepping up beyond the norm this spring and summer to meet increased demand.

This is a worldwide phenomenon, with significant delays being reported in most western-world passport offices including the UK, the USA, Australia and Canada where demand is also up.

In a recent meeting with senior management of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Fórsa learned that two recent temporary clerical officer competitions were exhausted, and that management could not draw any more staff from them. The number of staff in the department has risen to 930 from around 700.

The union continues to support staff in the Department and will monitor these developments.