Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I touched on a point about the 60,000 new Irish. We have moved from a monocultural to a multicultural society in a short period and this has brought complexities such as the use of names by African, Arabian or Muslim people. We have always used the traditional Christian name and surname. Still to this day, many people think their first name is their Christian name, but if a person is a Muslim then he is not a Christian. How is the office managing that? It is not only a matter of the composition of the names because there are differences in the cultural application of a name in various nations. There is also the written format, which I imagine is completely alien to many of the staff at the Passport Office. How is the office managing the significant diversity of citizens from the wide and wonderful world?