I live in Ireland and I know there are long delays and difficulty contacting office for first time applicants, even Irish born ones.
There are huge numbers of applicants including for children born during pandemic.
There's an excellent online application process for renewals, son got his in 2 days! But first time ones take ages and if more documentation is required application seems to be sent back to end of queue.
They have recruited more staff but still problems I'm afraid. The good news is that they are careful about security before issuing as an Irish passport is very well regarded internationally, so could be valuable if it fell into wrong hands!