Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will extend the deadline for parents who wish to remain here with their Irish-born children, due to the difficulties that have arisen between his Department and the community welfare services regarding documentation; and the number of applications received to date. [5306/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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On 15 January 2005 I announced revised arrangements for the consideration of applications for permission to remain made by the non-national parents of Irish born children born before 1 January 2005. One of the requirements is the provision, where appropriate, by applicants of a letter from their community welfare officer stating the period during which they have been in receipt of welfare payments in the State. The purpose of this requirement is to assist in proving continuous residency in the State of the applicant since the birth of the Irish born child.

The demand for these letters initially created local difficulties for some CWOs. However, I am informed that dedicated arrangements have been put in place to deal with the backlog of requests where this has arisen. Provided that these letters have already been requested or are requested in good time, all will be issued before 31 March 2005, which is the closing date for receipt of applications under the revised arrangements. The need to extend the deadline does not therefore arise. By 11 February 2005, a total of 5,843 applications for permission to remain under the revised arrangements have been received and around 1,100 decisions to grant permission to remain were made.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I am delighted that 1,100 parents have been given the opportunity to remain in Ireland with their children, who are Irish citizens. It seems extraordinary, in this e-Government, that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the community welfare officers cannot come to an agreement to submit information electronically to the Department. I understand there was a Mexican stand-off between the two Departments, because there was a need for a piece of paper to be issued to the applicant that would then be sent off to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It would surely be much easier for the community welfare officer to send the information electronically. There are thousands of people out there who are still waiting——

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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What is the Deputy's question?

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Can the Minister confirm that there are thousands of people still waiting to receive their letter from the community welfare officer, even though they might have applied for this many months ago? I understand that up until a few days ago, the letters were not being issued in Galway. People are still genuinely concerned that they will not get the letters in time to make the application by the end of March. Is the Government serious about electronic government? Is it serious about using information technology in a correct manner? Will a very vulnerable group of people in Ireland receive information in good time so that they can make an application?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am glad that the Deputy welcomes the extraordinary success and progress in implementing this scheme, where 1,100 people have received a favourable response weeks after it has commenced.

If community welfare officers were to transmit data electronically to Dublin, it would become separated from the application received in my Department. It would then be someone's business to try to associate particular e-mails to data that comes in.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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It is not rocket science.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Political correctness does not dictate that it is impossible for someone to obtain a piece of paper from a CWO with whom he or she deals, and then submit it with the other pieces of paper required.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I only hoped the Minister might wish to take this on-board.

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The CWOs of Ireland, for whose professionalism I have the greatest respect, are well equipped to issue a piece of paper if they are capable of sending an e-mail. There is such a thing as a printer and these things are printed out. I want a workable system that does not become chaotic. Each applicant is required to submit a form which incorporates a statutory declaration and has a number of things attached to it. One of them is this letter. It is not a difficult thing to do. Although I accept the Deputy's proposition that many of these people are vulnerable, this is not an unreasonable requirement. This is an extremely generous offer by the Irish State, which is being run in a very effective way. No other state in Europe has made an offer of this kind. I have to ask that the applicants comply with a basic step, which is to obtain a letter from their CWO where that is applicable, identifying the fact that they have been in this State in the period since their child was born.

If the Deputy wants to know why that is required, it is because a considerable number of people came to Ireland, had a child and went abroad. This scheme is not for them and they are not eligible to apply for it. It is only for people who claim that they have resided in Ireland since the birth of their child and who ask to continue to live here. People who had an Irish citizen child and who went elsewhere are not allowed to come back to Ireland and to pretend that they have been resident here since the birth of their child. A letter from a CWO is a very simple verification of this. It is not beyond the wit of man or woman to produce that letter to support a genuine case.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Some countries are reported to be charging several hundred euro to supply identity details for passports for individuals. Can the Minister speak with his colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs to try to address the very high charges extracted from this vulnerable group of people in order to obtain confirmation of their identity from the country that they left to come to Ireland?

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I have read in newspaper reports and have been told personally by the applicants that they consider the charges made by their own countries' embassies for supporting identity documentation to be excessive. I will draw to their attention my view that people in these circumstances should not be charged an unreasonable fee in order to provide identity documents.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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I have to remind the House that questions are limited to six minutes. The Minister's reply is limited to two minutes, while supplementary questions and answers are limited to one minute each. I ask Members to bear that in mind.