The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) is blaming the Department of Foreign Affairs and Passport Office management for the chaos at the Dublin office.

The General Secretary of the union says the pre-planned closure of the counters was mishandled by senior management.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says the backlog of passports has risen to over 50,000 – as a result of the industrial action by CPSU members.

Blair Horan – speaking at the union’s annual conference in Galway – is defending his members action.

“Management did not do anything to prioritise the queue that took place outside the passport office last Friday -  and refused to close the door at any stage” he said.

“There was a flood of applications still in the building when those offices actually closed”.

“As far as we’re concerned, it was an absolute mismanagement by Foreign Affairs that caused the chaos in the passport office last Friday” he added.