Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They are certainly not put to the back of the queue. I want to stress this. I have been speaking to officials in recent days, and I am very clear about this. As Deputy Carthy said, the issue in the case he outlined was that the Garda did not record it. There was an issue with the Garda witness verification in that specific case. I do not have the full details. Where the passport service cannot reach a Garda station, there is a system in place whereby it contacts the relevant superintendent's office to verify the details. There is ongoing work between An Garda Síochána and the passport service. They have a very close working relationship. Training and guidance is regularly offered to gardaí on the correct completion of the required identity and consent forms. The passport service published an information advertisement in the May issue of Garda Review, An Garda Síochána's magazine, to try to assist with the process of witness and passport identity consent forms. Information leaflets containing detailed guidance have been shared.

We are consistently looking at ways to make the application process easier for people, including the enhancement of digital services. We would welcome the digitalisation of the records maintained by An Garda Síochána when witnessing applications. The general experience of the Passport Office is that issues with contacting Garda stations to verify witnesses is not a widespread phenomenon, but it can happen.

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