Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

While I may be the only Deputy who has issued passports, including emergency passports, I am not the only person in the Chamber to have done so. I am looking to the bullpen. It was a slow process in the pre-electronic age, but it was a task I enjoyed in Germany.

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment, which was well-deserved given his interest in the developing world. I had the honour to be his colleague in the Seanad over the past five years, so I wish him the very best in his new job.

It is more of a query than a criticism when I say the legislation before us is written in the spirit of the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924. The word "Minister" occurs throughout the Bill. For example, section 17(1) states:

If a person to whom a passport is issued believes that the passport has been lost or stolen, he or she shall notify the Minister and an Garda Síochána of the loss or theft as soon as practicable.

This is clearly a polite administrative fiction because it is highly unlikely that a matter concerning an individual's passport will go anywhere near the Minister for Foreign Affairs except perhaps in one or two high profile or extreme cases. The Passport Office will deal with these matters. While I approve of issuing passports in the name of the Minister, do we need to maintain this fiction rather than identify the office which will actually issue and administer them? The Bill's form of expression seems extremely old-fashioned.

With regard to the passport for life suggested on the benches opposite, what photograph would one propose to attach to it? Likenesses tend not to be particularly good even if the photograph was only taken the previous day, so what would they be like 40 years later? I do not consider the suggestion a practicable one.

I warmly commend the Passport Office, the head of which was a colleague of mine at the time of the Good Friday negotiations, on the exemplary efficiency shown by its colleagues in every dealing I have had with it as a private individual or public representative. When I accidentally left my mobile telephone turned on while I was on holiday in Scotland this year, I received a call from a constituent in Carrick-on-Suir concerning a major passport difficulty. The constituent was travelling later that day, so there was nothing for it but to contact the Passport Office, which resolved the problem in time. I do not mean to encourage anyone to leave it to the last moment before travelling to check whether a passport has expired but the Passport Office did very well in the aforementioned emergency. When my own passport was either lost or stolen in New York last year, the consulate there was very efficient in providing a temporary replacement.

One of the outcomes of the Good Friday Agreement was the extension of passport facilities to Northern Ireland through the post office network. It was a sensitive issue because it had to be addressed in a way that would not raise ideological resistance while at the same time fulfilling the spirit of the Good Friday commitment that, in the context of Northern Ireland, one could be British, Irish or both. For practical as much as sentimental reasons, an Irish passport is a much valued badge of identity for one community and an attractive proposition for the other. It may encourage people who would see themselves as British to also identify as Irish in the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.

In the old days, foreign travel was a rare event. Passports were stored safely and seldom used, so I imagine the danger of loss or theft was much lower. Unfortunately, from a security perspective, the uses for which a passport is demanded have proliferated. I do not approve of Ryanair's demand for passengers to carry passports or driving licences on flights within the common travel area between Britain and Ireland. The airline is almost setting itself up as a quasi-legislator in that respect. People in their late teens and early 20s use their passports in nightclubs as a proof of age. Most of us instinctively oppose identity cards but there are limited options in terms of photo identities. I accept, however, that provision has been made for special identity cards for pubs and clubs. My point is that passports are used more often than in the past and sometimes in less than secure environments. It is not surprising, therefore, that the incidence of loss and theft has increased. Consideration should be given to solutions to that problem, such as restricting the use of passports to their primary purpose.

Significant levels of data have been collected on each of us. Presumably the addresses on the unsolicited material which comes thudding through our front doors came from somewhere. Passports do not make use of confidential information beyond the bare bones of place and date of birth, so they are different in that respect from one's social welfare or employment files.

I do not share the civil libertarian concerns expressed here. My philosophy is that provided one tries not to break the law little else matters in this regard. Society is overseen in many ways and there are many ways to access information on people so perhaps we should accept this fact but take action in clear cases of information being misused.

I am glad that the passports for sale scheme was terminated. It seemed like a good idea at the time and members of all parties solicited passports for wealthy individuals who could contribute money to worthwhile projects in their constituencies. Similar schemes were practised in other reputable democracies but nonetheless it was right to bring the practice cleanly to an end because it gave rise to scandal, suspicions and so on.

There have been cases in which passports were misused. I remember 20 years ago it emerged Irish passports were used on an American intelligence mission in the Middle East. We duly complained without obvious consequences but sought to ensure it would not happen again. Reference has been made in this debate to a celebrated incident some years ago which involved three individuals travelling to Colombia possibly on false passports. Not everything has been clarified in that regard. The brother of one of those men is a well-known journalist. I do not mean to apply this to that person only but it is a pity that the media demands a degree of accountability of politicians which it does not apply to itself when an awkward situation arises. I recall an incident last autumn where various documents leaked to a leading national newspaper were destroyed and court proceedings ensued.

I am being careful not to name individuals outside the House but one of the people I referred to appears to have a very close relationship with a leading witness in a tribunal. There appears to be a concerted effort to throw any type of allegation at the Taoiseach to try to bring him down. Given that the lead witness is domiciled outside the country and could not possibly have knowledge of the background to the allegations being made, it is clear there must be a person or people guiding his hand.

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