Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister had many questions to deal with, but I was looking for more specific information for Cork. The figures I have show that nearly 2,600 passport applications were awaiting processing in January and that this figure rose to more than 9,000 in May. I would like to get an update regarding where we are now because my office has been inundated with people contacting me about passport applications. Regarding the issue of whether there should be the ability to print passports in Cork, it would be a big advantage to the whole Munster area.

Another issue concerns a situation where a family came to me. They went to the Garda station to get two forms signed for a son and a daughter. The daughter got her passport, but the son never got his.

We were told by the Passport Service that it has to deal with each application individually. When the office rang the Garda station, a garda verified he had signed the daughter's application. By the time the Passport Service got to the son's application, it rang the Garda station and either could not get through or the garda on duty was not there. Due to the fact that the garda was not present in the station, the application went out of date and the family had to reapply. This is crazy stuff. If someone in the Passport Service telephones a Garda station, he or she should be able to inquire as to whatever applications the station has signed.

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