Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

On the last point, the reason amendment No. 32 seeks that a decision of a passport appeals officer may be appealed is that this official basically has no powers. I have already said what the Bill contains. This section was not in the original draft, as far as I can recall, and the only reason it is there now is that the human rights commission said a passport could not be refused unless there was recourse to some type of appeals mechanism. The appeals mechanism was to be welcomed, bar the fact that all it can do is confirm the Minister's decision rather than set the Minister's decision aside. An appeals officer should be able to make decisions. However, he or she cannot make decisions or implement them. That is the reasoning behind amendment No. 32. I have already dealt with the other amendments in some detail. Looking at this whole section, it is very strange that an Irish citizen can be refused a passport. Section 6 virtually guarantees the right of an Irish citizen to a passport, yet in section 12 this right is taken away, which is procedurally rather odd in the same Bill.

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