Results 841-860 of 11,433 for speaker:Michael Kitt

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: Where an applicant meets the requirements set out in the legislation in respect of identity and citizenship, the Minister will issue a passport. However, the Bill does not make issuing a passport a mandatory requirement. If the amendment were accepted, section 11 would be the only circumstance in which the Bill obliged the Minister to issue a passport. In the interest of ensuring...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: I can discuss the matter with other Ministers who would deal more directly with the matter. We are dealing with the administration of the passport system. With regard to the points raised by Deputy Shatter, this was a case prior to the Foy judgment, which recognised the distinction between a travel document and a birth certificate.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: That is the case, which the Deputy knows.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: That has been the long-standing practice of the Passport Office in connection with passport applications by persons who have undergone or are undergoing treatment or procedures to alter their sexual characteristics. With regard to words like "may" and "shall", section 11 would be the only circumstance in which the Bill obliges a Minister to issue a passport if we accepted the amendment.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: The word "may" is used in every other positive way and "shall" is used with "shall not" with negative issues.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: I have explained the case of recognising the distinction between travel and birth cert to the Deputy. I can discuss the issue with my colleagues but I cannot give the Deputy a response today in the Dáil.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: I am dealing with the administration of the Passport Office and we have thrashed that out on Second Stage.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: Does Deputy Kathleen Lynch wish to speak?

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: Not at all.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: In respect of amendment No. 14, it is very unlikely that in practice the Minister would seek to invoke the power to refuse a passport on the basis of the common good. Its inclusion is intended to provide discretion in exceptional cases. It is also included in recognition of the fact that the High Court explicitly cited the common good in the judgment that first identified the unenumerated...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: I mentioned earlier to Deputy Shatter that my Department has been involved in a small number of tragic consular cases in which citizens inadvertently placed their health or their lives at risk in travelling abroad. I refer to people in receipt of psychiatric treatment who travel overseas with the resultant discontinuation of their treatment. That constitutes an example. However, I repeat...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: We have the passport appeals office and people can also avail of judicial review. I made this point earlier. I take Deputy Lynch's point that people retain a number of passports. However, in addition to my earlier remarks, I should add that section 18 provides for circumstances in which a passport must be surrendered to the Minister or to the Garda. This is backed up by offences under...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: The Ceann Comhairle's promise. Question, "That the words proposed to be deleted stand", put and declared carried.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: I have no difficulty with the intention behind these amendments, which are designed to ensure the welfare of children. Securing the welfare of children is central to this Bill and there are many provisions that touch on the matter. In the administration of the passport service, the Minister in the normal way is required to and will comply with orders issued by the courts directing him or...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: Arising from acceptance of amendment No. 16, I ask the Leas-Ceann Comhairle to request the Clerk to move the word "or" on page 9 from line 25 to line 27. It is a technical change.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: This Bill establishes a statutory right in case of refusal or cancellation of passport for such decisions to be appealed to an independent passport appeals officer. The appeals mechanism is set out in some detail in section 19. Further supplementary and ancillary details will be set out in regulations that will be laid before the House. The independent passport appeals officer mechanism...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: If the Deputy is talking about citizenship, one would go to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: In reply to Deputy Lynch, the passport appeals office is the speedy and inexpensive means of making a challenge to the Minister's decision. In reply to Deputy Ó Snodaigh, I will give the same answer, the appeals office is the inexpensive route to take rather than going to court. In reply to Deputy Shatter, only one person has been refused in the past three years, according to statistics...

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: We would need to study that point further. Only one person was refused in the past three years.

Passports Bill 2007: Report Stage (19 Feb 2008)

Michael Kitt: The term "biometric data" is a generic term used to describe the measurement of distinguishing physiological traits of a living person. These data are capable of being used in automated recognition systems. The proposed amendment is too restrictive to allow even for the development of facial recognition technologies. Already technologies are being developed to permit assessment of skin...