Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I am glad to have an opportunity to say a few words on this subject. It is a very sensitive subject for the people for a number of reasons. Many people and many families have not had a holiday in up to ten years because when they were ready to go the Covid lockdowns came about and they could not go anywhere. Families have changed and there are more people involved. Babies have been born and, in some cases, babies who were born one or two years before the pandemic have never been on holiday anywhere outside the country because of Covid and the difficulties we all had to comply with. There is no doubt that this has caused a huge problem.

There is now a huge backlog. More resources must be applied in a way that is strategic in order to remove the waiting list. We have become accustomed to waiting lists in this country. It is not just the Passport Office or the Department of Foreign Affairs: there are waiting lists for health services and for almost every service in the country at the present time. We make excuses all the time. The time has come when we must deal with the issue and not spend so much time dealing with the excuses. I am aware that the Minister and Minister of State are extremely busy. They have been busy as a result of Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol, and around the intransigence on the part of other governments in other jurisdictions. That all has taken its time and taken its toll. We must recognise that this is the case and, at the same time, we need to compliment them for the work they are doing in those areas. It is a very tough task.

Notwithstanding all that, there is the issue of the people. The people need to expect a first-class service, simply because it is a sensitive time, simply because they have been locked down for so long, simply because they were frustrated for so long, and simply because they feel the urgent need to make a little trip, get out of the country, and relax with their families. They feel this in a personal way. They feel that it is attacking them in a personal way. It is not meant to be like that but that is the way it is. Whatever needs to be done in the redeployment of staff needs to be done as a matter of urgency, not in six months' time or in one year's time. We need to do it now.

The challenge now is how quickly we can deal with it. Can we do it now? Can we deal with it in a way that will at least give us the clear knowledge that the issue is in safe hands? I am not happy criticising Departments, their offices or the public services in general. We all rely on them for the delivery of services and we have to appreciate that. The fact is that the service is not sufficient to deal with the demands at the present time. It is as simple as that. We can talk around it. We can walk away from it and pretend it is not happening. We can become impatient with each other as a result of the difficulties created. We must do something about it. To my way of thinking the answer to it is simple. Whatever it is, it needs to be dealt with now. Let us deal with it now. Let us remove the waiting list. Let us give the people a little break on this one. They have not had too much over the last years for a whole variety of reasons, which were not in the control of the Government or anybody else.

We now need to deal with it. It comes back to the same spot. This is not a criticism of the Minister or the Passport Office or anything else. It is about the people who have been locked down for so long and have felt deprived. Kids will be going back to school again at the end of the summer. There is not much sense telling them in September that we have resolved the problem. We need to resolve it now to allow families to have a little bit of enjoyment and a break and an opportunity to be together in a relaxed fashion after the past two and a half years. I am conscious of the pressures on everybody. I am not being dismissive in anyway but the fact of the matter is that the issue is there. It will not go away and has to be dealt with.

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