Dan Boyle (Green Party)

In general I welcome the Bill because it is necessary to reform many aspects of legislation on passports. It is an important document for all our citizens and we must ensure it serves its purpose for them in terms of its security and general usefulness. I continue to have concerns on some aspects of the Bill, which I will elucidate as I speak. A passport is probably of greater importance to Irish citizens than to people in other countries. We have a history of emigration and statistics about the number of passport holders in the United States show we are largely at variance with other nationalities in our practice of holding a passport and travelling outside our national territory in our adult lives. That helps give Irish people a more rounded view of the world and we should encourage this as much as possible and ensure any administrative constraints on the use of passports are minimised.

My concerns relate to the provisions on biometric data. The need for biometric data and its acceptance in other jurisdictions is a reality in modern passports. The security of the data and how it will stay in State control and never be accessed or used by third parties is not spelled out in the Bill and might need to be dealt with in future regulations. Enough has not been said on that in this debate. I would like the Minister and officials in responding to this ongoing debate to describe how such security measures can be taken.

My second concerns is slightly at variance with Senator Mullen's contribution. For a change, it says something positive about our legislative process that we are responding more immediately to judicial decisions. He may disagree with the particular decision in this case——