A senior civil servant has described delays in passport applications for those born outside Ireland as "awful".
The delay is currently "over two years", John Conlan, Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
He also told the Public Accounts Committee that almost a third of those who were offered temporary clerical officer posts at the department turned them down.
Mr Conlan, who is also Deputy Secretary General of the DFA, said that four recruitment rounds have already been run this year, but that there is an "attrition rate" of 30% for those offered positions.
People "seem to have better offers," he said, adding that there are currently 846 staff in the passport office.
Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster noted that this was despite repeated promises that 920 people would be working in the division by this summer.
"We're taking on around 25 [people] a week until the end of July," Mr Conlan insisted.
There are currently "38,000 applications on hand" for passports for those born outside Ireland, he said.
"Pre-Covid that was 9,000," he noted, and last November stood at 24,000, indicating an ongoing increase.
Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy said that the two-year delay - up from 18 months pre-pandemic - is "horrendous".
"It's awful," Mr Conlan agreed.
Several committee members recounted difficulties constituents have experienced in accessing the online passport service, particularly with uploading photographs.
Deputy Munster said one woman has been waiting "since December", or almost seven months, for her application to be processed.
While Mr Conlan expressed confidence in the IT system which is being used, Siobhan Byrne, Director of Passport Services, accepted that people using "older systems" on their electronic device can experience problems.
Deputy Munster advised that this be posted on the website, rather than letting people wait "eight weeks" to find out their picture did not get through, as she said happened in one case.
Committee Chair Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley agreed that this was needed, it "really is a problem".
Mr Conlan said: "We'll look at that. Maybe a warning or some highlight of the issue."
The committee also heard that the department is about to issue a tender for the construction of a new embassy in Tokyo, which is scheduled to open in 2024.
