A heartbroken mum was forced to leave her daughter behind after a passport mix-up.
The devastated mother left her 10-year-old as the rest of the family jetted off on an all-inclusive luxury Greek holiday.
Samantha O'Connor was 'inconsolable' after realising her daughter's passport was out of date, just a few days before they were due to travel.
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With a few days left to get everything sorted and with detailed paperwork to get through, Samantha said she immediately panicked, our sister tithe The Mirror reports.
She contacted local politicians to speed the process along, hoping they could help her get the travel document in time.
She said: "We were making sure we had everything sorted when we realised that 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 says she had to leave young Ellen with her aunt due to having no other options.
Luckily, Ellen and her dad managed to get on a later flight once the passport arrived and they met the others, a week later, in Greece.
But Samantha said the family holiday, their first in two years, was totally ruined by the stress of worrying whether it would arrive in time.
"I flew out with my other daughter here on Saturday," Samantha told DublinLive from Kolymbia on the Greek island, Rhodes.
"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. My whole first six weeks here literally went sitting by the phone and making sure I had internet and signal in case someone was going to ring me, which they never did."
Samantha said they couldn't have cancelled the £3,500 holiday as that cash 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 10-year-old with my sister because we paid £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."
The mum said due to working a lot during the pandemic she's had little quality time to spend with her children.
"This whole holiday was a way of doing something together as a family again," she said.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs told the publication: " 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."
