Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have a crisis here. It is absolute chaos. Some 195,000 applicants are still waiting for their passports, as the Minister of State knows. In my constituency offices in Laois and Offaly the volume of correspondence coming in is on a par with that related to housing and health, which I thought I would never see. Housing and health, in that order, have always been the main issues coming into my office. I acknowledge that 300 additional staff have been taken on in the Passport Office since last June, bringing the total to 760. However, I am disappointed greater efforts were not made to take on more staff because we knew this would become the huge problem we now have. It is unfair on individuals and families and a source of great stress and disappointment. I can only imagine what the stress levels are like for staff in the Passport Office, which is totally unfair. This problem is no fault of the staff. It has to do with the whole organisation and the system as it operates. The system needs to be improved, brought up to standard and moved with the times.

A number of Deputies alluded to the need for more passport offices. Having passport offices in all the regions would be a logical solution. We need this type of State service in the midlands because we have been left behind many of the other regions. The fair thing to do would be to have more offices and ensure every region is represented. That would certainly alleviate the pressure on the staff trying to deal with huge numbers of applications and working with a system that is not fit for purpose.

The real disappointment is that this has been going on for over a year. There was ample time to do more and perhaps redeploy staff from other Departments, in addition to hiring 300 people. There was definitely scope and time for planning but, again, a failure to plan has led to this problem reaching this point.

This is one of the few times that every Deputy of every party is in agreement. That speaks volumes. Most of the time, Deputies are at odds on issues and have different opinions and perceptions of how bad things are but on this issue every Member from every party is saying there is a serious crisis. It is totally unacceptable that a family will be given an issue date and will then make plans, perhaps using savings, and book different activities for a holiday abroad only to discover that the passport has not arrived. That is very disappointing and totally unacceptable. Again, it is about the system in place and not the staff.

The other issue is that people should be given the communication in time, with a more efficient system. There is, and has to be, a better way of doing business. Certainly, the redeployment of staff is one way to try to help clear the backlog.

The Minister of State spoke about encouraging people to do online applications. I agree with him, but all the applications I have dealt with have been online applications. There is still a problem. It is not due to the hard copies going into the office, but a problem in the system. It is not all down to the applicants making mistakes with their forms either. There is a multitude going wrong, but I believe the core reason we are in the current position is a system that is not fit for purpose. The Government has to be more proactive in opening more State services around the country and not just concentrating in particular regions, as it always has done. It definitely has to be more proactive in that regard and, as I said, have a passport office in the midlands and offices in other regions to get through the backlog.

I hope that the communication will improve. I call on the Minister of State to take urgent action and to ensure that the communication with people improves. It is unfair to have working families saving money and ploughing their savings into a holiday only to lose that money, their deposits or their flights. We have to find a better way and we have to move forward. We also have to ensure that this does not happen again. We must learn from this and make sure to plan properly, not wait until things are failing and falling asunder as they are now. Again, there is no excuse for that. There was plenty of time for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to intervene and there were lots of options that could have been pursued.

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