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

The Minister is correct. When urgent cases are brought to the attention of Members of this House and we bring them to the Passport Office, officials there are exceptionally good and sympathetic in dealing with that. I am always wary of a service that involves a politician having to intervene and ask for it. There is nothing worse than failing to see a text message and next thing it is not the Passport Office that is getting the blame but the Deputy for not seeing it or whatever the case may be. We need to find a way that goes beyond that. It needs to be an official service and not seen as some form of patronage on the part of a politician or somebody who happens to have a first cousin who knows somebody in the Passport Office or whatever the case may be.