Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. As I said, it is very difficult to spend 45 minutes on the telephone. I would not like to be the member of staff doing it and pulling the hair out of his or her head. There is also an issue in that Members are only allowed five queries per day. That is a difficulty because we might have ten queries on a given day and we must pick which five to raise. There could be ten queries the day after and it always seems, at the end of the week, that there are a number of people whose issues cannot be dealt with. That is terribly unfair.

Will the Minister ensure the estimated issue time online tracker is set to close to the actual date? We have been told in replies to parliamentary questions that it is taking ten days for a simple renewal, 15 days for complex or child renewals and 30 days for first-time online applicants. That is just not factual. If it were, there is no way I would be here today talking about it.

I feel very strongly that passport offices should be open to the public. The banks and every other place are open and getting on with business.

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