Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

——and is publicity-obsessed, and that someone says something abroad that he does not like. It is not so long since there was someone like that in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. People can form their own views on that point. Under this provision, that Minister would have a role in the removal of an individual's passport. Let us assume the Minister heard at 11 p.m. that someone was flying into Dublin Airport who had said something distressing to him at 8 p.m. that evening, in another country — could he use this provision to call some forlorn immigration officer in the airport to demand that he or she remove the person's passport? Could a Minister do this so that he might just get a headline in the newspapers the following morning because, God forbid, he might not otherwise be mentioned that day? It is not so long since there was someone in this House who fitted that category. This is a dangerous provision because it allows not only the refusal, but also the removal, of passports. Will the Minister of State spell out the circumstances in which it is envisaged these two provisions will be used? I formally propose my amendments to the Bill.

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