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

Everybody values the Irish passport. It is one of many people's most prized possessions, particularly those who have had to leave our country and move elsewhere. It is a source of pride to display the passport with the harp anywhere in the world and see the value that is attached to it by others. It is also an entitlement of every Irish citizen to have a passport, and there is a responsibility on the State to provide one. As I have acknowledged, for most people particularly when it comes to renewals the experience with the Passport Office is a positive one. However, it has to be acknowledged that there are issues every year. I am regularly contacted by people about issues, and I am sure it is the same for the Tánaiste and his Deputies. Their phones are probably buzzing daily with different passport issues. Again, the Passport Office can be supportive of emergency cases or those that need an extra eye. However, the truth is that people should not have to contact their politician in order to get a passport. There should be a mechanism to secure passports in an urgent manner rather than an emergency manner, when people have to travel, need a passport quickly and there is an anomaly. There has to be a mechanism. I have raised this a number of times, but it does not seem to be addressed.

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