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

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, for being here. At the outset, I acknowledge that we arrived at this situation for very clear reasons. There is a sharp increase in the number of people who want to renew their passports. In addition, there have been some international circumstances that have driven demand for Irish passports. It is important that solutions are brought forward in this debate.

It would be an idea for the Department of Foreign Affairs to give priority to existing passport applications by those people who currently hold Irish passports. It is worth recognising that 45% of passports issued are done within a one-day timeframe. This puts the whole debate into some degree of perspective. Many people have heard of the more difficult and complicated cases around the registration of new children in order to get their first passports, which obviously is quite complicated. There is also the aspect of applications from people based outside the Republic of Ireland. Although they may be entitled to passports, in many cases for legitimate and proper reasons, it is important to recognise from an international point of view - and particularly driven by Brexit - that there are many people in the United Kingdom who want to get swift access to an Irish passport under the existing rules. Perhaps this should be a lower priority.

I believe that priority should be given to people living in the Republic of Ireland, who are based here, for whom this is their place of residence and where they are paying their taxes. It is one particular point. I understand this may, to some degree, be controversial for those who are living abroad but the Passport Office is trying to deal with an extraordinarily large backlog and we need to be co-operative to some degree with the Passport Office. I acknowledge the work being done by the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, has been very helpful with some very serious cases down through the last months.

From my own perspective as a back bench Deputy in government, I recognise that Deputy Paul Murphy may have a different view when it comes to emergency situations but I do like to be able to assist and help in getting access to the system when there may be a bereavement or for somebody who may need to be given a passport swiftly for necessary reasons. This is an important part of parliamentary democracy. We are very fortunate to live in an open and free democracy in this State where people have quite open access, which is quite unprecedented access in western Europe, to their Members of Parliament who are the Members of the Dáil and the Seanad. Obviously, this also applies in accessing social services and other services the State provides. I believe this is an important function of the work we all undertake. Dealing with the issue in front of us is going to be frustrating.

One other area I want to identify is improving the links between registration offices around the processing of birth certificates. This has been quite problematic but, from our experience, it seems to be causing the most difficulty when it comes to the emergency line and making contact with the passport service. When a person is trying to get a first-time passport it is, unfortunately, remarkably difficult to get those situations sorted out. It will cause a lot of upset for many families travelling over the summer months for summer holidays. I would like to see some degree of focus on that. I am aware that not everything can be done but that is one particular area where further investigation and further resources would be very beneficial.

We do appreciate the work being done by the passport service. There is a habit in this House of people getting unnecessary criticism. There is a huge backlog. More than 5,000 passports are issued daily. That is nearly the population of Fermoy in the context of passports that are handed out daily. They all need to be scrutinised. It is a very precious document. There are significant rules and regulations around them being lost. We must also bear this in mind when we are having this discussion. It is not something that can just be put through a computer and done automatically. It does need background checks and there needs to be a level of security around them. As we have seen, internationally the Irish passport is an extremely valuable commodity. We must be very conscious of that also. These are just my own views on the issue. I hope that the passport service and the Department of Foreign Affairs will be able to get over the next couple of weeks and months, which it would appear will be quite difficult.

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