Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Higgins, particularly for his last point. If this is seen as a battle to the death on issues of principle, the people who will suffer most are those queuing outside. Ultimately, the reputation of a good service will suffer too. The reputation of public administration, which has already taken a hit because of certain types of industrial action, will also suffer.

I will mention to the Passport Office the issue of proper queuing arrangements. There is something fundamentally undignified in the 21st century in people having to queue outside from three or four o'clock in the morning. That is not acceptable. I am not sure how we can deal with the queuing issue but I will certainly make that point.

Deputy Higgins also mentioned the intransigence of a private operator. Public administration is where bureaucracy is supposed to exist and not in the private sector. One would have thought Ryanair would be a little less bureaucratic and a little more open, provided security requirements are met and proper proof of identification is presented.

Deputy Higgins also made a very useful suggestion that the backlog of applications should be broken into different batches of those which are urgently required and those which are not. Given that we are approaching holiday time and everybody is making arrangements, in light of the current publicity surrounding the issue, it would be difficult to persuade anybody that his or her case is less urgent that somebody else's case.

The Deputy also mentioned the talks that are under way. They are at a very preliminary stage. We have to deal with the trade unions in good faith and make it clear that they understand fully the difficulties facing the Government. We do not have any wish to be at war with the trade unions. We certainly do not have any wish to be at war with public servants, particularly low paid public servants. The Deputy is correct in saying that the pay of clerical officers and clerical assistants, the grades represented by the CPSU, are not grand salaries. I accept that. I served with some people in those grades and I was a member of that union and of its executive. Returning to the Deputy's first point, the burden of adjusting should not fall, as the Deputy said, on junior public servants. It certainly should not fall on citizens who have legitimate business with which to deal and many of whom have urgent business with which to deal.

I handled a matter raised by a person from Donegal, which was brought to my attention over the weekend. The person had to travel to New York to see a person who was dying. In all humanity that is a case that is critically urgent and the system should be able to handle that. I heard Deputy Timmins mention a case earlier of young people who are due to travel abroad for particular reasons, that they do not have a passport and that they perhaps should have applied for one six months ago.

We have had an excellent passport service. I fear greatly that there will be a legacy in this regard and in that respect I draw attention to the point I made, a point Deputy Timmins made and a point that was implicit in what Deputy Higgins said. The trade union took a step forward last night and it has shown great leadership on issues in the past. I mention in particular the general secretary of the union who has taken something of a lambasting in recent days. I ask that the trade union rescinds this action and allows the 50 staff who have already been passed to come in and to allow them to work overtime. We can continue the discussions. At the end of the day this dispute will be resolved. Everybody realistically knows that it will have to be resolved by discussion. It certainly will not be resolved by imposing any further hardship on the travelling public in this country. I thank the Deputies for their contributions.

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