Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I have to take that as a "No". I have limited time and want to deal with the issue that has arisen, particularly in my office.

I qualify everything I am saying by saying people should not have to visit or contact their politicians in order to get passports, but many people feel they must because of the experiences we have heard. People understand that politicians can ring and send emails to the Passport Office but what they might not know is that there is a limit to the number of representations we can make per week. I think it is 20 per week. If one of us deals with a family of seven, that takes seven from those 20. Because of my location and because I am a representative of an all-Ireland party, a huge number of the representations I have to make are actually on behalf of constituents of MLAs and MPs in the North because they do not have access to the same services to which I have access. Will the Department consider reviewing that to allow elected representatives of Irish citizens north of the Border to make representations where needed?

For as long as I can remember, there has been huge demand for a passport office in the North that would allow public access. Are there any plans afoot to open a passport office in the North of our country?