Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 6, subsection (1), line 4, to delete "may" and substitute "shall".

My colleague, Deputy Timmins, tabled a similar amendment in the other House. There is no reason passports should not be issued at birth as is the case with birth certificates. Cattle, sheep and even donkeys seem to be assigned passports at birth and it would be of great administrative benefit if the same were true for people. We all are aware of the difficulties in Chad where children were exported or transferred to France where no one could identify them. I do not suggest that such a situation could arise in this country but automatically issuing passports at birth would be of assistance where any such eventualities might arise. I ask the Minister of State to consider the amendment as it would do nothing but good.