James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason this is being raised is that we all know about the chaos that ensues when something goes wrong with a passport applications. As Deputies, we were all inundated with queries about that and the Minister's answer is perfectly justified in terms of the backlog that is there and that we are dealing with post Brexit, with people seeking Irish citizenship and passports, as well as the administrative issues around Covid-19 with people not applying. There was a staggeringly large number of people trying to get their passports at that time. The point I am making is genuine and it affects a small and limited number of people. It can often be the ruination of people’s holiday plans and they only find out at the last minute that these errors have cost them their passports. Mary from Turner's Cross might have to cancel her trip to Tenerife and end up in Tramore if these things are not solved.

The reason I am bringing this forward is that there is an opportunity to make a minor change, in time and when the backlog dies down, that will allow these amended errors to be dealt with a little more swiftly. This would enable a more efficient and fair system and it would mean people would not have to miss out on their international travel plans.

See this speech in context