It's the age of uncertainty, whether it's your job, that volcanic ash cloud, or, if you're hanging around Molesworth Street, wondering where your passport is. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the backlog now stands at 67,500. At the height of the dispute in late March, the backlog was 40,000. There are approximately 4,100 applications a day, while, the department claims, an average of 3,600 are processed daily.

By 9am last Wednesday morning, there was no sign of the headline-making queues of late March when industrial action by passport office staff brought the dispute to a head. But when the precious brown envelope did appear for the lucky ones in the first floor collections area, there was almost spontaneous applause from the other assembled hopefuls.

For young Ciara Galligan from Greystones though, it didn't look like she was going to be one of the lucky ones. She had followed the department's advice and applied for renewal through the 10-day An Post passport express service (now taking between 15-20 days, according to officials). That was at the beginning of April. She was booked to fly to Barcelona on Friday morning. "I've been tracking its progress online, as advised, and it hasn't moved. With less than two days to go, I decided to come in and speak to customer care to see what the situation is."

At another counter, a woman in grey leggings is asking if she can have her old passport back again – it expires in July and she's travelling at the weekend. At the next counter there's even more a sense of urgency –a woman carrying a big suitcase. There are parents with buggies, and one young mother, Andrea Leggett, insists she is not leaving without her baby's new passport. She's told to come back in at 3.30pm. "If I come in again this afternoon, this will be the fifth time. The staff keep telling me it's ready. When I get here there's still no passport." She shouts 'Best of luck' to the room and storms off.

Patrick Lawlor from Coolock is hoping for a last-minute passport miracle – 42 of his extended family are booked on a flight to Spain the next morning. He's supposed to be with them. He's stressed about the re-appearance of the volcanic ash cloud threatening flights; more pressing is the re-appearance of his application – still in the applications section where he left it 17 days ago.

Catherine Forde, a young mother who's driven up specially from Kilkenny with eight-month-old baby Sarah in tow is pleading at the counter. "But they told me to come this morning. Can I just drive to Balbriggan and meet someone there rather than hanging around all day here with the baby?" A few minutes later her mobile rings. She gets the go-ahead to drive to north Dublin and claim her prize.

Most people in the passport office last Wednesday were under the mistaken impression the dispute has been settled. "Our executive has recommended rejection of the public- sector pay and reform deal," Theresa Dwyer, assistant general secretary of the Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) which represents staff at the passport office, told the Sunday Tribune. "That deal is currently being put to a ballot which closes on 11 May," she said.

Back on the ground-floor applications section in Molesworth Street are people like Linda Simmons with their own headaches to be solved. Linda had been at the airport with her three children the day before, but was turned back at passport control. "We hadn't noticed that my daughter, who turned 16 in April, is still on my passport. We couldn't travel, so here I am, hoping to get things sorted. But everyone has been really helpful."

Michael O'Dwyer, also calmly waiting in the applications area, is equally philosophical. "I'm here to apply for my baby daughter as we are heading on holiday to France on 1 June. Although the advice is to go through passport express, I'm taking my chances and have decided to come in and apply directly. I'm not too stressed – so far the only stressful experience has been having the baby photographed – we must have taken about 400 at this stage."

Back upstairs, the woman with the suitcase now carries a beaming smile as well. Her burgundy-jacketed prize is actually for her daughter in Cambridge and she is heading off to deliver it in person. The woman in the grey leggings has scored a success too. She's got her old passport back, she'll make that weekend flight after all, while staff have assured her the new one will be processed without any loss of application fee or details.

"I can't believe it, I was chancing my arm, asking to get it back. I'm jammy like that," she says, one of the lucky ones heading out the door with her golden ticket to freedom.