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

The urgent passport service is the gap within the services. It is primarily for first-time applicants. I am not talking about people who apply on 1 May and wish to travel on 20 May. In most instances we deal with, these are people who submitted their applications late last year or in the very early weeks of this year.

They subsequently received notification from the Passport Office that something was not right, such as a photo not being perfect, the person who provided a signature on a consent form not being contactable or whatever the case may be. By the time that communication was received, a case that may not have been urgent when the passport was first applied for has become urgent. There needs to be a mechanism whereby, in cases where the Passport Office has dealt with all of the citizenship issues and other questions, an appointment can be made for somebody to bring in a final piece of information and a passport to be offered on the spot.

I found that most people in that position would quite willingly pay five or ten times the cost of the original application because of the urgency involved. That would negate the fear of the Minister that everybody would leave it until the last moment. In most instances, only people in desperate need of a passport would avail of such a service. I ask the Minister to keep that under review and give it consideration, in particular during the summer months.

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