Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have been in the position before of there being a problem with the issuing of passports. We were told on that occasion that the number of staff in the Passport Office would be increased, if not doubled. I accept that this work is being done at the moment, which is absolutely necessary. However, we need a very quick audit of how many staff will be needed to deliver the service we require at this point in time. That needs to be done straight away.

I am repeating what every other speaker has said in pointing out that my constituency office is inundated with complaints from people who cannot get through to the passport service on the telephone lines or via the web chat facility. They have given up on doing so and they are particularly perturbed that they cannot necessarily trust the tracker system. They come to us for help but we cannot always through to the Oireachtas helpline. I acknowledge there is pressure on that service. I requested that extra slots be afforded to us for dealing with constituents' passport applications and I am very glad the Minister allowed that. However, it means the helpline will be choked up to an ever greater degree. We must be able to deliver for our constituents in this regard.

One member of my staff on her day off set aside considerably more time than it should take to make sure she phoned the Passport Office, accepting the situation that people are finding themselves in. This is just not working in any shape or form.

We have also been told there will be a streamlining process particularly for first-time child passport applications. We all accept the necessity for due diligence. I do not need to repeat what has been said about guardian consent forms at Garda stations. The Minister of State spoke about the need for a new memorandum of understanding. I am very glad there is interaction involving the Minister and the Garda. We need to reach a solution on that.

We are getting various pieces of information. Sometimes we are told the Passport Office will ring twice and sometimes we are told it will ring three times. We need to get clarity on that. That comes directly from the Passport Office.

I do not know what age we are in that this is being entered into a book. Even in my constituency there have been issues with busy Garda stations. That is an issue I brought up specifically with the Garda itself. There needs to be some sort of electronic tracking of that with information sent in by email or by a bespoke system because what we have does not make any sense whatsoever.

In Dundalk in my constituency, we are absolutely inundated with Northern passport applications. We need a facility for Northern elected representatives because otherwise they are coming in through us. In the long term, we need a passport office in Belfast. We need solutions as quickly as possible. I apologise that I will not be here for the end of this debate, but I would appreciate it if the Minister of State were able to give me an answer to those matters.

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