Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

My proposal to the committee to invite in the Department of Foreign Affairs related specifically to the Passport Office. There may be other elements of that Department we should be examining. There was an investment programme in the Passport Office, some of which has delivered dividends, for example, in respect of automatic renewal. However, there are other issues with the passport service. There has been a problem for the past year and it has become a bigger problem recently. I accept a very large number of passport applications have been made. We should ask what are the returns on the investment that has already been made and whether it represents value for money. Many applications are rejected on the basis of the photograph submitted. It is accepted by the technology but not by the human being dealing with the application. That raises the question as to whether the technology is fit for purpose.