Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is about the fifth time I have brought this issue up. I am back to the passport and ID issue of members of the Garda identifying that they sign the passport application. I am back to the parent of a first-time applicant. The Passport Office is unable to get in touch with the garda who signed the application. The office has contacted the same Garda station four times. Surely at this stage even the Tánaiste can recognise that this is a vast waste of everybody's resources. The Passport Office is involved. It is a very labour-intensive exercise for An Garda Síochána, who do not have time to go out and do the 30 minutes traffic policing. They are answering the phone unnecessarily. They are identifying twice. In the modern day, we have to identify a system that alleviates this type of incident. I have asked the Tánaiste a number of times to devise a system where members of the Garda do not have to be contacted to verify that the person to whom they are giving the application is the person. Does the Tánaiste not understand me?

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