Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I am not sure whether the point I wish to raise is relevant to this particular section. My son and some of his friends came to Dublin last week to process their applications for a J1 visa. They encountered no difficulties and submitted their passports to the United States Embassy as required. However, one of them had travelled from Cork on a Ryanair flight and because his passport was no longer in his possession, he was refused permission to board the internal return flight to Cork.

This is an abuse of the passport requirement for air travel. Ryanair staff were willing, as a last resort, to accept a driver's licence but this young man does not have one. The forms of identification he could offer, a student identification card, Garda identification card and international student card, were not acceptable. Such types of identification should be sufficient to travel from one city to another within the State without the requirement of a passport. I am not sure whether this issue might be dealt with in the regulations provided for in section 4.