Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Sometimes I sit here and wonder how we can solve the climate crisis when we cannot get the Passport Office to work operatively. My office is receiving an inordinate number of passport issues. They are the same issues as I have raised previously. We have a disconnect with the Passport Office. Whether it is the Oireachtas helpline or the helpline for people who ring up, the information is different. People then go to the Garda station. The gardaí are doing their best to keep the country in law and order but some of them do not understand that a passport photograph must be signed with the application number on the back of it and it must be stamped. Families are returning to Garda stations and taking up valuable time and resources we do not have. Sometimes they have to return two or three times. I have asked previously whether we could set up a system that does away with Garda verification. We have to bring in a system that is different and that works. We cannot have the Passport Office ringing Garda stations looking for the Garda who signed the book. It is not working. I plead with the Tánaiste to address the issue before we get to the seriously busy holiday season.

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