Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his appointment. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh also on his appointment.

I know that we are moving towards an online passport service; will that include a reminder system as well, similar to what applies to road tax and various other services?

It would be of interest to note what percentage approximately of applications received by the passport office are incomplete. I hope the online application will actually ensure full completion of applications. I take this opportunity to commend the staff in the passport office because I know they are under ferocious pressure and I have also contributed to some of that. It is a very stressful time but if we can provide an online service that would be something.

My final point relates to the public service card and the requirement for new or renewal applications to have the public service card. Is the Department liaising with other Departments in that regard because we are finding that people who are not aware of that requirement have to seek appointments for the public service card as well? I understand that 1.8 million people have received the card so far, as I learned from a response to a parliamentary question I tabled.

I have a number of questions on programme A. The expenditure so far on emergency consular assistance to May 2016 is €1 million whereas the target is €79 million.

Is there a reason for that? Are there expenditures pushed out into the second half of the year that are not shown in the Estimates?

My final question on programme A relates to North-South and Anglo-Irish co-operation. The Minister might inform me as to when the next North-South Ministerial Council meeting is being held. In particular, I am interested in the all-island bodies that fall under his remit and how the Minister oversees their work programme and targets. There is a feeling out there - it may not be a fair one - that we may not be getting from the all-island structures all that we could and that the potential of those bodies to work for all the people on the island of Ireland is not yet being met. It appears that over the course of the past year, obviously because of the electoral cycles, that it slipped off the agenda. I am particularly interested to hear the Minister's views on a work programme in that regard, what targets are being set, how we are interacting and how the Department interacts with the all-island bodies, which were brought forward in the Good Friday Agreement, to ensure that we are using them for the good of all the people of Ireland and to reach their potential.