Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I suppose the issues being discussed are all inter-related in the context of revocation of passports and the decisions made. Is it the Minister of State's view that when this legislation is enacted, there will be statutory powers to revoke passports of individuals with regard to behaviour of such individuals prior to its enactment? The exercise of issuing passports is regarded as one of the sovereign powers of a country. In this context I should like the Minister to clarify that.

I share some of the concerns expressed about circumstances where an appeals officer can make a recommendation that the Minister is not bound by, and perhaps we can come back to that a little later. There are certain individuals who might want to be considered for passport removal. For example, one or two friends of Deputy Ó Snodaigh, who became known as the "Colombia three", went off to engage with FARC guerillas and mysteriously reappeared in this country, without ever fully having explained what they were doing there. I wonder whether they are candidates for passport revocation. Perhaps the Minister of State might clarify that.

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