A mum said she had no choice but to leave her daughter behind for a £3,500 all-inclusive holiday after a mix-up over passports.
Samantha O'Conner noticed her daughter's passport was out of date days before they were due to head off on their luxury holiday in Greece.
The mum tried everything and went through detailed paperwork in order to salvage the trip Birmingham Mail reports.
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She even contacted politicians in the hope they could speed up the process and get the travel documents in time.
She told DublinLive: "We were making sure we had everything sorted when we realised the child's passport had expired.
"It was a renewal - it's not like she hasn't had a passport. She's had two passports previously. I couldn't put my holiday forward because I'd have to give five working days to do that."
Samantha, from Dublin, said she had to leave Ellen, 10, with her aunt because she ran out nof options.
But Ellen and her dad managed to get a ater flight once the passport arrived and they met the others, a week later, in Greece.
But Samantha said the family holiday - which was their first in two years - was ruined by the stress of worrying.
"I flew out with my other daughter here on Saturday," Samantha said.
"My husband could follow us out with her on the second week.
"But my whole first week of the holiday went sitting by the phone waiting and checking emails."
Samantha said they couldn't have cancelled the £3,500 holiday as the money would've been lost.
The youngster was distraught that she missed out such a large chunk of the holiday, Samantha said.
"I had to leave my ten-year-old with my sister because we paid €4,000 (£3,500) for this holiday," she said.
"We went all inclusive. It's our first holiday in two years and it never happened for her.
"She was devastated at the beginning. I was devastated. I was inconsolable even going out on the flight because of the thoughts of leaving her behind.
"This holiday was a way of doing something together as a family again," she said.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs said:" The turnaround time for applications such as child renewals and first time applicants begins only when we receive all required supporting documentation.
"When an application has been correctly completed and all documentation has been received the Passport Service is making every effort to issue passports as quickly as possible."
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