Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Every time I fail to get a passport for somebody, I think of the unique and serious situations involved. People must travel sometimes for funerals and other times for holidays, but costs and disappointment are always involved in these cases. We should never lose sight of the human situations that arise when people do not get the service. I notice that the State often requires people to do things within 28 days or 14 days or the service will not be provided. Therefore, we owe it to the people to provide efficient services.

Was any systems analysis done to find out where the logjams were occurring in the system? I do not accept the idea that all the applications are left there and are not pre-validated. Planning offices, for example, pre-validate planning applications to ensure that all the paperwork is correct. Similarly, passport applications could then take a sequence after pre-validation. Additionally, has the issue regarding the signature by a member of An Garda Síochána as a witness been fully resolved? Has this eased a great deal of demand on the Minister’s office?

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