Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have some questions. Time is limited, so I will try to keep them concise and I ask the witnesses to try to do the same with their answers. Regarding the Garda verification of passports, I had a situation where a constituent had a passport application witnessed at the Garda station in Edenderry, which is a town of approximately 11,000 people. The person works in Dublin, as many people living in Edenderry do. Dublin is 40 or 45 miles away. People are away all day and it could be 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock before they get home in the evening. The garda in the station in Edenderry witnessed the application and did the whole process. A situation then arose where the Passport Office could not contact the Garda station in Edenderry because it was not a 24-hour station. I then posted a message on my Facebook page advising people to go to either Tullamore or Portlaoise in Laois-Offaly because those are 24-hour stations.

Is Ms Byrne saying that such a situation cannot arise now? Let us take the example of a situation where Joe Bloggs goes to the Garda stations in Mountmellick or Edenderry, both which are open three, four or five hours each day, and the Passport Office then contacts one of those stations and the call is not answered. Is there a system in place now to ensure that cannot now arise? I would like a short answer to this question.