Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and the Minister of State. I wish to start on a negative note, which will be of no surprise to the Minister. Members yesterday received a briefing note from the Department which outlined that the overall gross Estimate for Votes 27 and 28 is €738 million, as the Minister stated, but we have no independent analysis of how that money is being spent. I have raised this issue with previous Ministers. I am uncomfortable with the process in that regard. It is a huge amount of money and we have a responsibility in terms of governance and oversight but do not even have a copy of the Minister's speech. That is an appalling way to treat members of the committee. I do not believe that the briefing note on the spend which has been given to members was only available from yesterday. Members have been to other countries to discuss parliamentary oversight and so on and how that is carried out there. We would be uncomfortable if we observed another country dealing with such a large amount of money in this fashion. I have previously complained about the process in regard to the European defence fund and other breakdowns and that is similar to these huge sums we are being asked to approve under general headings without knowing the detail of how the money is being spent. It is a fair point but I have laboured it long enough.

Like others, I thank the Minister's office, the Passport Office and the consular service for their efforts in regard to passport issues. The Minister mentioned problems caused by the recent snowfall. One person who could not get a passport because staff were unable to get into the office contacted me. He was unable to join his family on their planned trip to New Zealand because he could not get a passport. I do not know how one can legislate or provide for such situations. I am sure others were also affected and I welcome that the Minister is contemplating additional overtime for staff and so on to deal with the backlog. I welcome the €5 million increase for the passport reform programme and I understand that big reforms have been undertaken in recent years.

Recent figures indicate that 53,715 people in the North applied for Irish passports in 2015, 67,582 in 2016 and 80,964 in 2017. Staff in the Passport Office are doing a fantastic job under immense great pressure as a result of Brexit but the Government must acknowledge that increased demand. Has money been set aside to establish a passport office in the North? That could take the form of a dedicated citizen hub providing a place for passport applications but also a valuable resource in terms of assisting Irish citizens with their legal rights and entitlements in regard to Brexit.