Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The point that most passports are issued online is taken, but outside Cork and Dublin there is a lot of the country without any passport office cover in an emergency. A person living at the far end of County Donegal, never mind someone living in Derry or elsewhere in the Six Counties, has a long way to travel to Dublin, especially if it is an emergency. These are the cases with which I have dealt. In fairness to the Minister's office, it has been very helpful in the past in dealing with emergencies. It is a good facility to be able to contact somebody who can give advice. There will always be a cohort who will not be able to make online applications and in practice there will be strange or emergency cases who will need some access to a person. It might be that it would be rolled out more, rather than just Passport Express. It would help to have someone to check when people are doing it because often the delay is caused when people send in material and have forgotten to do this, that or the other.

Are there plans to reopen the embassy in Iran that was closed due to financial constraints? I welcome the opening of the other consular services. We had the advantage when the group travelled from here to Washington of seeing the great work done there. The consular service and the ambassador explained what would be rolled out and how while it might cost money, it would be cost-effective in terms of the benefits Ireland would get and investment in the country. I encourage more of the same, as the Minister outlined.