Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could not agree more with the Chairman's suggestion that we need to actively use local media for two purposes he outlined - to make people aware of the online opportunity in the passport service and, again, as part of the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready campaign. In my constituency, for example, Galway Bay FM is the second most listened to radio station after RTÉ Radio 1 in the whole of County Galway so it is an exceptionally effective tool for communicating with people. I heard an interview with the director of the passport service on Galway Bay FM. I think this is part of a sustained campaign. The director has been undertaking interviews across the entire local radio network for the last couple of months and will continue into early in the new year. There is an acknowledgement that this is an exceptionally important part of the communication options available to the Department and in the context of the Getting Ireland Brexit Ready campaign and the online passport option.

The passport printing and recording system is due to be upgraded over the next 18 to 24 months. A very important suggestion was made that people receive a reminder text as the expiry date of their passport approaches. It is hoped that that will now be incorporated into the new system. It is not possible to do that with the current system but it will be completely redesigned over the next 18 to 24 months. The Getting Ireland Brexit Ready campaign "hasn't gone away, you know". There is ongoing engagement through Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices, LEOs, across the country. I know from speaking to one SME owner in my constituency that they are exceptionally happy with the support they are receiving. It is a matter of making the public, particularly the SME community and the farming community, aware of that kind of support and what exactly they need to do to survive, as well as the challenges that will no doubt arise during and after Brexit. We will continue to engage actively with those communities in every way possible.