Bit of bad news if you tried to renew your passport during Storm Emma

There's been a slight bit of bad news if you tried to renew your passport during Storm Emma.

The bad weather brought on by the Beast from the East last week has affected the turnaround time for Irish passports. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, offices in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick were closed last Thursday and Friday under the advice of the National Emergency Co-ordination Group following the nationwide red weather warning. https://twitter.com/dfatirl/status/968895264554668043 The Irish Times reports that passport offices are doing "everything possible” to reduce turnaround times and assist people who are travelling soon. They said:

“Since Monday this week, the Dublin (Mount Street) and Cork office have offered appointments to more than 400 applicants to submit their application at the public counters, and these applicants will have their passports in good time for travel.

“Also, the rapid renewal service, which offers appointments for a same day service, has processed applications for more than 45 people travelling today or tomorrow.”

The average turnaround time for an online passport application is two weeks (10 working days) excluding postal time. An Post passport express renewal applications on average take 23 working days to process. Adults wanting to renew their passports have been advised to do so online. The passport office said that about half of their applications have had turnaround times of "less than a week” despite the storm.