Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The Passports Act 2008 requires that before issuing a passport to a child, the passport service should be satisfied that each person who is a guardian of the child consents to the issue of a passport to that child. Section 7 of the passport application form addresses this issue by requiring all guardians to confirm their consent in writing in the presence of a witness. The witness, who may not be a relative, must come from a wide range of accepted signatories, including elected public representatives, notaries public or commissioners for oaths, peace commissioners, lawyers, school principals, police officers, accountants, bank managers, medical doctors and members of the clergy. Applicants are also advised that the passport service may undertake checks to validate the signatory for the purpose of ensuring that no attempts were made to apply falsely for a passport for a child.

The list of approved witnesses was prepared to provide generic categories which could be found not only in this State but also in other countries around the world. Whereas it might be possible within the State to identify those who are members of the profession of chartered engineers, as they are additionally members of Engineers Ireland, this would not be possible outside the State, where representative bodies vary from country to country. The passport service is of the view that the categories of approved witnesses who may sign section 7 of the passport application form are sufficiently broad. Accordingly, it is not intended to extend the list of witnesses further to include chartered engineers at this time. However, as the categories are kept under regular review, the question of extending further is something that can be considered again at a future date. For now, in the light of the sufficiently broad range of categories already covered, the Department is in agreement that there should not be an extension on this occasion.

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