Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The time it takes to get a passport is causing a lot of stress for people who are planning to travel. There are particular issues with regard to first-time applications and the guardianship form that is signed in a Garda station. When the Passport Office is not able to verify the form, the application is sent back and this causes huge stress for families. I have raised this at joint policing committee meetings and also directly with An Garda Síochána. Gardaí are getting a large volume of calls from the Passport Office to verify these forms. One not particularly busy

Garda station was getting up to 13 calls per hour to verify a form that had been stamped and signed. There are huge difficulties if a particular Garda station is closed because the call is then forwarded to the district headquarters but the daybook will not be available there to verify the form, so more calls are needed as a result. Is there a way of streamlining this process? When I raised it at the joint policing committee meeting, it was suggested that an email with a list of the people verified in a station each day could be sent to avoid the repeated calls.

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