Post-Brexit, post-pandemic and with a national pent-up yearn to travel after being confined to home for the best part of two years, the Passport Office finds itself at the centre of a perfect storm.
Demand is higher than ever before. More than 550,000 passports have been processed so far this year. That is getting close to the 634,000 issued in all of last year.
It is expected that demand this year will be double, with 1.4million applications to be dealt with in total.
Pressure on the passport office is turning to pressure on TDs which, in turn, is leading to internal divisions for the coalition parties and "When you have children in your office, crying, because they cannot go on their school tour and they are not going to get their money back, well then that's a big political problem," one Government TD told me.
The stories are endless.
John Brady, Sinn Féin's spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, said someone came to his office "in a terrible state" because they had tried to contact the passport office 378 times in one single day without a response, while they watched "the clock ticking down on their family holiday".
His colleague, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, described how a constituent applied for a renewal in February, having booked a flight for a "major operation in Spain" but still has not received his passport. "This is crazy," he said.
According to Fianna Fáil's Éamon Ó Cuív, someone in Galway got their passport back with the wrong name on it.
They are coming to TDs offices, according to Fine Gael TD, Neale Richmond, "utterly stressed, frustrated, upset and at their wits end".
Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, said passport applications are now taking up about 30% of the workload of his office.
A big frustration for TDs, including some Government backbenchers, is that the factors leading to the backlog after Covid and demand from the North following Brexit, could have been planned for in advance.
But the Government is insistent the issue is being addressed.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says recruitment is under way for 900 extra personnel, it will take a few weeks for them to come on stream.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, tweeted that 21,000 passports were printed and issued across Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, an average of 7,000 a day. "Staff are working flat out to deliver for the public," he said.
There are also discussions under way between the passport office and An Garda Síochána to streamline the process.
One issue that has been identified is that once a passport has been stamped and witnessed by a garda, the passport office has to make contact with the garda for verification. In many cases, particularly in rural areas, the Garda station may be closed.
"A number of stations serving a large urban population, like Glanmire, are open only part time," said Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North-Central, Pádraig O'Sullivan.
"My understanding is that staff in the Passport Office will make three attempts to contact a garda on behalf of an applicant. If they fail to make contact, the application then has to be issued with a new link and a new consent form must be submitted." This, he said, adds three to four weeks to the processing time, "which seems like a complete waste of time and resources".
Sinn Féin and some Government TDs have suggested opening a passport office in Northern Ireland from where it is estimated around a third of applications are made.
As things stand, TDs in the South are being contacted by MLAs to help with applications of their constituents.
But the prospect of the Department of Foreign Affairs opening an office in Belfast is seen as something that would be politically tricky at this time.
TDs like Deputy Flanagan, who is chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, suggested the North West would be a perfect location for a new office to add to those in Dublin and Cork.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested the Government is exploring the possibility of opening an office in the West.
All this political frustration, cancelled holiday plans and public annoyance, is happening despite €13 million being spent over the past five years on a Passport Services Reform Programme. This, according to figures obtained by Parliamentary Question by the Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy, includes €4.3m on Passport Online and €717,000 on customer services.
Deputy Murphy said a lot of the investment has been worthwhile, but that some aspects require further examination.
"If it is the case that you have invested in IT and one of the problems with that IT is that you take a photo of a child which is subsequently rejected by a human eye, then you have to ask is the technology up to scratch?" she asked.
The Public Accounts Committee has now agreed to question representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs on passport delays. They are expected to appear at the PAC before the Dáil breaks for summer.
Deputy Murphy said witnesses will be asked about the Passport Service Reform Programme, which was established in 2016 and has cost €13.4m since.
"If we are going to continue to invest in this service, we have to ensure that this investment is robust," she said.
Minister Coveney said the programme have ensured that the Passport Service "can provide a more efficient service, despite the unprecedented increase in the level of demand".
For now, many frustrated service users might disagree.
