Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will write to Waterford Institute of Technology to request the historical breakdown at the end of each financial year from when the revenue deficit commenced and by how much it increased each year up to the current position. Next is the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, clear audit opinion, and the Data Protection Commission, clear audit opinion. One was the cessation of accounts for the Data Protection Commissioner, which is now called the Data Protection Commission. They are on our work programme for next week.

I am moving on to our work programme for next week, which will only take a few moments, and then we will take a short break. I want to mention one issue that was brought to my attention yesterday. We are often hard on public bodies but we want to give a bit of credit to one body that was before us last year. We put them through the mill in respect of delays in the passport office. I received a text yesterday about the office. A person who is well known to me in Dublin applied for a passport online on Tuesday at 12.07 p.m. and received the passport in the post yesterday morning, Wednesday, at 8.30 a.m. That is a turnaround of less than 24 hours, a remarkable achievement. I asked if it was just a freak because we are over the summer hump and he said his daughter applied online in June and had the passport within 48 hours. I want to give a bit of credit to the passport office because it has been the butt of a lot of criticism.