Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is unfortunate when somebody does not turn up as it throws everybody's timing haywire.

I will take this opportunity to commend my staff in Donegal who have been dealing with a continuous stream of passport issues over the last few months and who have been struggling with an unresponsive passport service. It is nearly impossible to get through to the passport service through the normal channels and the Oireachtas line is rarely answered in our experience. Often days go by without being able to get through.

There is also a serious issue with inconsistency in the passport service. The information given on the criteria for escalating a passport varies considerably depending on who takes the call. Something has to be done. My staff are still calling on behalf of constituents waiting for passports since February. That is unacceptable. The system appears to be completely unequipped to deal with the demand. One wonders why this is the case. We knew this was going to happen so why did we not prepare for it? A passport lasts for ten years and there is a limited number of Irish people in Ireland so it is probably the one service for which it is possible to plan accurately. If there are 50 million people in the world entitled to a passport, that is 5 million per year and so many per day, so one knows exactly what one has to do. It should be possible to plan properly for this service and to respond in a timely manner so people can actually get the service.

I am also aware that, as Deputies, we only deal with the problem cases. If people do not have a problem, they do not come near us. However, the number of problem cases increases according to the volume of applications that are received, therefore one gets this response. These are issues that are very important to people at the time they are applying. It is something they only apply for once every ten years and it is something the system should be able to deal with. There is no doubt about that.

It is clear that the Government has not taken this issue seriously. There is talk about people being taken on to respond to it. The video released yesterday by Deputy Higgins could have been mistaken for a parody. Instead of fixing the problem with the postal service, the Government has instead changed the name of the service to reflect its refusal to fix it. Not only that, it then proceeded to celebrate this as if it is a fantastic achievement. It is no wonder @MallowNews is no longer running on Twitter; it is clear this Government is doing a good enough job of making a farce of itself. Are we going to change the names of all services and Departments to truly reflect their work? Perhaps we will have a "Department of housing crisis" next, rather than the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

It is time the Government took this seriously. Issues with the passport service have to be addressed. This has been going on for too long now. At one time, it was people who were not applying for their passports in time to get them processed. Now, the passport applications have been with the Passport Office for an awful long time, but nothing is happening with them. Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen quickly.

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