Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gallagher. It is a very important subject matter. As the Senator quite rightly pointed out, those public representatives who live in the Border region have seen a huge increase in the number of people contacting us from north of the Border about passport services. My office and I have received calls, as I know has the Senator, from a huge number of people from the North of Ireland applying for passports or whose family members intend to apply for Irish passports in the future. I believe the Senator's proposal is a very good one. There is a public passport office in Dublin and another in Cork. If we are to deal with the reality that there will be a increasing number of people from Northern Ireland seeking Irish passports following Brexit, I believe the proposal to have a public office adjacent to or centrally situated in the northern half of the country to cater for areas on both sides of the Border is a worthy one.

Immediately after Christmas, I had a huge number of calls from people living in counties Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh who were about to apply to or were seeking information on our passport service. I believe it is heartening that people are applying for Irish passports and we should make it as easy as possible for them if they wish to go to a public office. Departments and statutory agents would say that nowadays, one can get everything online. Not everybody has the capacity to go online and it is simply not acceptable that there is not ready access to a public office if a person wants to go and meet the officials and persons dealing with the subject matter. I believe it is a good proposal that I hope our committee will support. Personally, I am very supportive of the proposal. Does Deputy Barrett want to say a quick word?