A Fianna Fail Senator says the processing time for a child's passport is too long for many families.
Lisa Chambers is one of a large number of mothers around the country who have had to wait over 3 months for the vital document for their child.
New figures released today show almost 200,000 people are waiting for their passports ahead of a busy summer season.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says there is no backlog in processing forms and has blamed applications being filled out incorrectly.
Senator Chambers says while the turnaround times for adults are generally quicker, families are being left stranded.
"But if it's a first time children's passport, for lots of families they might be going on holiday for the first time in a few years, they might have a new baby or young children who have not been out of the country before."
"And if it's a first for families, it's taking for too long for passports to process."
At the start of May this year, there were delays of up to eight weeks for passport applications to be processed with almost 172,000 people currently waiting on their applications.
Over one million passports have been issued since the beginning of 2021 - including over 400,000 this year.
