Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

That is quite correct. There is nothing wrong with Deputy Flanagan's mathematics. Second, he presented six receipts for dental surgery, two of which dated from as far back as 2005. Third, he presented a letter dated 2009 from a firm of accountants and tax consultants which said he was known to them and that they had handled his business for the previous five years. He submitted a certificate of registration of business name dated from October 2008 and a bank statement dated January 2007.

Notwithstanding this, the Passport Office took the view that because much of the evidence of usage was of recent origin, in accordance with section 10(5), an observation would be entered on the passport. A member of staff spoke to the applicant and advised him of this. The passport was issued in the Irish form of his name but the observation showing his name at birth was entered on the page facing the data page of the passport. This entry would be clearly visible to any person inspecting the details of the new passport. In fact, it is regarded as a disadvantage to have such an observation on a passport because it raises questions about the passport holder.

Every passport applicant has a unique holder number on the Passport Office database. This enables the Passport Office, in examining passport applications, to track applicants' previous history. In line with standard procedures, both Irish and English forms of this applicant's name are entered on the database under his unique holder number.

I am, therefore, satisfied that the processing of this passport application complied fully with the requirements of the Passports Act 2008.

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