Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On 8 April, my friend Helen applied for her passport, as she did for her four children. The passports for her four children came back on 31 May with a request for further information from her, which she sent in. The flights were scheduled for 21 June. This is nearly ten weeks ago and I requested this matter be treated as urgent. Last week, she came to me saying she was so disappointed because this passport was urgent as this family was picked from the Kildare and Leighlin diocese for an audience with the Pope during the World Meeting of Families 2022. This is a family that is representing Ireland. I did everything on Friday to get the passport. I contacted the Taoiseach's office and the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney. I contacted everywhere and she did not fly out today. It is unacceptable that this lady and her four children - it is such a privilege to have an audience with the Pope - did not get her passport. As I said, it has been going for nearly ten weeks. It is unacceptable. The other issue is that Helen went to the Passport Office on Friday and Monday. She said staff there were not one bit nice or helpful to her.

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