Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by recognising the work of the Passport Office and how year on year it is improving. The Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Emer Higgins, did the State some service a couple of years ago when she highlighted that "passport express" was an out-of-date title for the service at the time. She may have got some online criticism but she was spot on in what she said. If I could put one thing across it is that there might be some room for communication on passports regarding new passports and first-time passports in the next year or two. I want to highlight there is still a bit of a wait but the service is fantastic.

Will the decision by USAID, and then the decision of some European states to cut back aid, indirectly impact our ability to spend our Estimate for 2025? Will we be involved in joint programmes which, through no fault of our own, will not be actioned and, therefore, we will not be able to spend our Estimate for a particular programme?