Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

No one in this Chamber is going to give out about increased capacity for our passport services. In every constituency office at this point, there is no shortage of calls from people trying to make it on holiday who are absolutely afraid they will not get their passport in time. Obviously, we need to make sure people check their dates and do whatever is needed. We have spoken about this previously.

There is an issue when it comes to streamlining, however. We know the issues that keep occurring around forms and the areas where mistakes are routinely made. They are made by a significant number of people. We need to look at the means by which that happens. At times, when a mistake happens, the clock is almost put back to zero. That is an issue. While people can sign up to be reminded when their passport goes out of action, I spoke to the Tánaiste previously about finding a way to make that streamlined in order that there is an automatic email in the same way as there is when it comes to motor tax and whatever else.

See this speech in context