(Image: dfa.ie)People working as contact-tracers during the pandemic are to be transferred to processing passport applications.
The Irish Independent is reporting that contact tracers working from HSE offices in Limerick will now switch to passport duties with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
195 thousand people sent in passport requests last month, with a 50 to 60 per cent increase in the volumes of applications reported since Covid-related travel restrictions were lifted.
Travel journalist Eoghan Corry says straightforward renewal applications are being processed quickly:
"The online application system is running very smoothly. Anything complicated, that can mean children or someone who's passport expired over five years ago - there's a few of those since Covid. Complicated can also mean all of that paperwork that comes with a first time passport."
