Mr. Joseph Nugent:

The foreign weddings issue is not an area with which I am sufficiently competent. The Chairman has referred the matter to the Department of Social Protection and the work of the General Register Office in that area. The Passport Act outlines the circumstances in which somebody can apply for a passport. It is primarily that they are an Irish citizen. We apply those laws rigorously to ensure only people who are Irish citizens can get an Irish passport. Without trying to pass the buck on this issue, it is not an area on which I feel I can talk with competence.

Deputy Byrne also referred to guarantees concerning false applicants, but I cannot provide such guarantees. However, a significant number of people try to get access to an Irish passport. The passport service does everything it can to put in place mechanisms to protect against false applications and theft. Unfortunately, however, there are individuals who have successfully obtained false Irish passports. This is a moving target for us and something we continue to work on vigorously to ensure we put in place reasonable systems for the majority of Irish citizens, while protecting their identities.