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

I will meet representatives of the Passport Office later today. I thank the staff for their ongoing engagement with Oireachtas Members. There is broad agreement that there has been a significant improvement in the turnaround times for non-complicated renewals and even for first-time applications where there is no urgency. The Tánaiste is correct that the passport service comes at emergency cases from a very humanitarian and pragmatic point of view in terms of being able to assist. The cases I am raising are urgent cases. They may not be an emergency according to the definition but they are urgent cases in that someone has upcoming travel. The issue that has been raised relates to where an application is made in good time but where there is difficulty with documentation and it is sent back to the applicant. The applicant might respond again very quickly. The difficulty is that it can lead to a substantive delay. This has resulted in people missing their flights. It is these urgent cases where there is still a gap in the service.

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