RTE presenter set to miss family holiday as 'internal errors' delay baby's passport

A well-known RTE sports broadcaster is likely to miss out on a family holiday due to delays in a passport being issued for her baby, despite the passport being applied for months ago. 

Evanne Ní Chuilinn said they gave themselves a 'buffer' zone of 90 working days to have the passport in time, well in excess of the average waiting time. 

The family holiday is now just a week away, and the passport has not been received. 

She said it was a “last resort” to post a message on Twitter on Thursday. In the post, Ms Ní Chuilinn called out Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney for ongoing delays, as she said the due date for her child’s passport has changed three times in the last four months.

She asked Minister Coveney and the Passport Service what else she can do to speed up the process.

Ms Ní Chuilinn gave birth to her third child, a boy named Teidí, in January. She said she applied for a passport for the new born “as soon” as it was possible.

TO CLARIFY - Passport was originally due May 5th, at which point I sent a second original birth cert -and it moved to June 2nd.This morning, the tracker has moved backwards again. In February, they said it would take 40 working days, we left a holiday buffer of 90 working days. https://t.co/Pa2pV1ziI0

— Evanne Ní Chuilinn (@EvanneNiC) June 3, 2022

However, there have been a number of delays in the passport being issued which Ms Ní Chuilinn said were down to "internal errors". 

The popular RTE sports broadcaster said she is an extremely organised person and applied for the passport on February 14, in order to allow herself ample time to have the passport in advance of the planned family holiday. 

I’m not interested in debating the issue. I’ve said no to multiple media requests to ‘give out’ about people who are no doubt working hard at @PassportIRL I just need to know what I can do today or tomorrow before the bank holiday weekend to expisite a FOUR MONTH OLD application

— Evanne Ní Chuilinn (@EvanneNiC) June 2, 2022

In an update on Friday morning, she said the passport was originally due to arrive on May 5 and was then pushed back until June 2. Ms Ní Chuilinn added: “This morning, the tracker has moved backwards again.”

On Thursday, the Kilkenny native said she is now left with three undesirable options - lose thousands of Euros for the holiday next week, leave her baby Teidí at home for the first time, or stay home with him and miss out on the holiday, upsetting the rest of the family in the process.