Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is an area in respect of which we need to improve. I am sure the Tánaiste's office has dealt with such situations. There is nothing worse than someone in a household realising that a passport is out of date or, worse, that there is an understanding of the length of time it takes for a first-time application to be resolved. In that context, I ask the Tánaiste to engage with the Passport Office to arrange for the putting in place of a facility for urgent cases. I accept that the facilities are there in emergency cases. For urgent cases, however, there should be a mechanism whereby first-time applicants can present at the office in order to get an accelerated passport. There can be many instances where that urgency is required. It is one of the final pieces that is required in order to ensure everybody using the passport service has a good experience.

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