Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

The matter I wish to raise is separate from the Passport Office industrial dispute. However, I welcome the announcement this evening by the CPSU that public counters in the Passport Office will not be closed tomorrow. This is a significant move, as people have been seriously discommoded for several weeks. I know many people who are in serious trouble with their passport applications and we hope they can be accommodated by passport office staff, although I appreciate there is a backlog and it will be difficult to appease everyone affected.

There are Passport Office branches in Dublin and Cork but all material must go to Balbriggan, County Dublin for final production. We have heard the stories about the three machines, one of which was flooded, while another is out of order, which means we are now reliant on the one on the Balbriggan site. There was a time when all passports were produced at the Molesworth Street offices but, for reasons of which I am not sure, the bulk of the service was moved to Balbriggan. What was the rationale behind this and why does this set-up need to be maintained? Will the Department examine providing more production services in its other branch offices in Dublin and Cork?

If Dublin and Cork are representative locations for Passport Office branches, will the Department examine providing one in the north west? While obviously I would push for the office to be located in Letterkenny, I would also appreciate if it were located in Derry, or as the second best option, Belfast, and available to the people of the north west on a cross-Border basis. With the current dispute in the Passport Office, it probably does not matter which branch office one attends, as I am sure the staff are in the same union and from the same background. However, apart from all of this, it would still be more convenient for a person from County Donegal to avail of one of the many handy modes of transport to Belfast or, even better, to Letterkenny or Derry, to obtain their passport rather than having to travel to Dublin.

All Passport Office locations should have passport printing machines in order that they can produce passports on site. Having two of three machines in one location would be described in any business as a monopoly. If something happens at one location, the issuing process could grind to a halt. It would make more sense to have them spread around the country. Geographically, people in the north west would be entitled to have a Passport Office branch or, as the second best option, access to a facility in Belfast.

I hope the serious individual cases I have encountered concerning passport applications will be dealt with soon. Some have had to endure terrible stress and anguish for several days, some of which was avoidable.