Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome the fact that the process is under review and that it is being considered in the wider context. The Minister of State mentioned that 200,000 applications are being processed per annum, which is a huge volume. I acknowledge the great work done by the staff of the passport service. We all value our Irish passport. It is our most important document in many respects. The process of verification needs to be reviewed. The Minister of State's response outlined that there are three attempts made to try to contact the Garda station. That is the case but unfortunately, Garda stations are extremely busy places. We know An Garda Síochána is underresourced. It does not have the manpower in place. An email system would be a far more efficient service. I have discussed this with members and management of An Garda Síochána. They seem to be in favour of an email system being put in place. A review is under way. I thank the Minister of State for taking on board my points. Hopefully, the review will result in a more modern and efficient system, which would prevent families from suffering unnecessary stress, anxiety and heartache. In the particular case I referred to, the family got the passport within hours of their travel. That is not acceptable when the family had applied in good time, a number of months beforehand. They used the online system and they did everything as they should have but unfortunately, the system let them down. That needs to change. I thank the Minister of State for taking my comments on board.

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