Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I did not expect to be speaking on this Bill until I was in the Chair, and I wish to take up from where Senator Boyle left off. Many of my comments will be related to the fact that I am from Donegal, which is geographically north of the North and politically in the South, something that confuses in many ways.

I am not au fait with the adoption laws in the North, but given that passports are of an all-Ireland nature and that I was born in Derry, what is the situation regarding an adopted person born there? There is an all-Ireland dimension to most things. I often travel down on the Enterprise train from Belfast. In the recent past, passengers arriving at Connolly Station in Dublin would go through the same doors as everyone else onto the platforms, but now they are sent through a separate channel. I resent talking about a common travel area in the island of Ireland, but is that a move to impose a passport control at the train station in the future? Why are we being sent into a different channel? Why was this done recently? The clarification of this issue is important.

There is a car ferry on the Foyle that goes from Greencastle to Magilligan, which is an international port. If the authorities were being absolutely strict, passport controls could be put in place. Security exists there, but it is a joke. There are security checks going out of the North into Donegal and not the other way round, yet we are paying for it. We are talking about the use of passports and the all-island concept of the passport, yet facts on the ground are not in keeping with this. What is being done to get rid of these real borders that we are discovering? We are paying for the security of something that has no implication. If the security checks are in place to stop illegal immigrants going into the North, then they are certainly not doing that. I get off the flight from Derry at Dublin Airport and I am asked for my passport. Officials will say they are not looking for my passport, but rather my identification. I am not sure whether the passport is a form of identification or whether it is a passport.

I would have been concerned about the biometric issue until my diplomatic passport was stolen, which was one of the new passports. I had been to the US, so my iris and my fingerprints had been taken. I was very satisfied to hear that when my passport was stolen, it could not be used going to America again because my iris and fingerprint details were on it. However, I share Senator Boyle's concern, particularly following the disappearance of health documentation when disks were stolen. It is more about the safety of the information. If one is doing nothing wrong, then one should not worry about people who might be watching. However, no one wants that information abused or lost.

If a person whose name is Edward but is known as Ed buys an airline ticket using the latter name, he will not be allowed to travel if the name on the ticket is not the same as the name on the passport. Some people need to be warned about that. An information campaign could be carried out. I was approached recently by a girl who was always known by a particular name that she preferred to the name on her birth certificate. This name was used on her bank accounts and for other purposes. It was brought to her attention that the use of this name was potentially illegal because it differed from the name that appears on her birth certificate. Provision must be made for cases in which people use a name other than that which features on their birth certificates.

I call for the establishment of a passport office in the north west. The regions need passport offices and the population of the north west is sufficient to sustain a passport office.

Senator Alex White complained about the practice of Members intervening to have passport applications dealt with speedily. I thank the staff of the Passport Office for the number of times they have pulled people out of holes, so to speak. I have intervened in such cases, including one in which a woman discovered the night before she was due to travel that her passport was out of date. The next morning she took the same flight as me from Derry to Dublin and I managed to have her case dealt with because I was coming to the House and knew the people working in the Passport Office. I telephoned ahead and the woman, who did not have a passport at 8.30 a.m., boarded a flight at lunchtime. I compliment the staff of the Passport Office and our consuls and embassies all over the world on the tremendous work they do.

A garda is required to confirm the identify of a person applying for a passport by signing a photograph presented by the applicant at a Garda station. After my passport was stolen, I went to Pearse Street station where I discovered a sign indicating that passport applicants must have photographs signed at their local Garda station. Given that many rural Garda stations do not have long opening hours, surely valid identification such as a driving licence is sufficient to enable a garda in any station to sign a passport photograph.

I am not arguing either in favour or against the introduction of ID cards, which is a wider debate. On the possibility of requiring people to carry a passport to prove they are over 18 years, it is not safe to carry one's passport on a night out.