James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise; I am coming directly from the Committee of Public Accounts. This an important issue. I do not, for one second, underestimate the challenges that have faced the Department of Foreign Affairs and the passport unit. Between Brexit and Covid, it has not been nice and we need to acknowledge that in the House. An important issue is there will be enormous growth in the number of passports which will be issued next year - just shy of 2 million. That is approximately double what we have issued this year. With the benefit of knowing that, we have to try to find a more efficient manner of allocating passports, if possible, whether that be a public information campaign, promoting people or getting it renewed on time, which will be crucial as well. The last thing any of us want to be doing is chasing up Ministers and officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs trying to get emergency passports sorted. We should try to pre-empt that by having a more efficient system, if possible, and perhaps a public advertising campaign, if that is okay.

See this speech in context