Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Ceann Comhairle could never short-change us. I appreciate his magnanimous approach to the clock.

I fundamentally and absolutely agree with the Minister of State that the passport service to date has been excellent. We all remember, as public representatives over the last decade, how difficult it used to be and how swift the new scheme has been, particularly with online renewals, and the amount of effort that was put in by officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs and outside individuals to ensure that we have, as the Minister of State rightly describes it, an award-winning service.

However, crucially, we do not have a service at the moment. We have a bare-minimum emergency service that is operating at a fraction of the capacity at which it operates in normal times. Even though people are not travelling, the issue is nothing to do with travel. It is about the fundamental right of access to the most important document, I would argue, that any citizen of this State needs to hold. Not everyone drives a car. People cannot even get a driving licence now if they need it because of the backlog. However, a passport is vitally important.

I wish to stress again the absolute limbo that Irish citizens abroad are stuck in, particularly when trying to apply for a passport or register the birth of a new Irish citizen aboard. I will be quite frank. My passport has long expired and I do not know when I am going to be able to get it renewed. It is not that I intend to leave the jurisdiction any time soon. There are hundreds of people, not just in my constituency and those of the Minister of State and Deputy Carroll MacNeill beside mine, who are genuinely worried. They worry that if they apply they will lose documents and passports for weeks and months on end if they are applying for a passport for their children.

At the end of the day, I appreciate the Minister of State's comments and the intervention by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney. He spoke with me directly today on the issue. However, ultimately, the system as is, regardless of level 5 restrictions, is not good enough. We need to be able to provide a credible, real service to which the citizens of this State are entitled. It is not something that can be afforded to them - it is their right.

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