Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It took a long time to identify all of these issues and change them. We were weeks into backlogs. I have been dealing with passports since November. My office has been dealing with backlogs daily since last November. Until we got the helpline it was the most arduous process we had to go through given the detail involved and that there is no system by which to correlate the applicant with the application number. It is very difficult for everybody to have to go back and forth for information, not just from our work perspective but for those on whose behalf we are working. Why did it take so long? I find it very difficult to comprehend. We now have an online system. We had the depths of Covid. The Department had loads of time to perfect a system. Has the updating since 2016 and everything the witnesses have said been a missed opportunity? Brexit was flagged as posing a significant issue with overseas applicants. Why did we make so little progress between 2016 and 2021? It is only now the Department is talking about updating a system that is outdated? We had a lapse of two years when people did not apply. We could have used that time.