Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I would like the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to attend the Seanad to discuss the irregularities in the service provided at the Passport Office on Molesworth Street and the difficulties many members of the public are experiencing in trying to have the telephone answered to find out the exact fee for obtaining a passport at a quicker rate, as well as the service available to Oireachtas Members. It is important that this service is restored, in particular for Members who represent rural areas. If the system, including the Department and the Passport Office staff, cannot provide the service that was offered at one stage - particularly for Members travelling from rural constituencies - then the only alternative is for passport offices to be established in the regions. In that way, members of the public could obtain a requisite level of service. It is totally inappropriate that, for example, a group of young Donegal students due to travel abroad this weekend applied for late passports but cannot receive details from the Passport Office as to when the documents will be ready. They have had to phone an Oireachtas Member for assistance and even then it is difficult to get the co-operation that would be expected from the Passport Office. We need clarity in that regard.

The second issue I wish to raise, which was also raised by Senator Darragh O'Brien, concerns the need for clarification on utility or water charges. We need urgent clarification on this matter but unfortunately it was not forthcoming following last week's Private Members' motion. We need clarity for a number of reasons, but primarily because people need to know whether they will be faced with utility charges from January 2012. In addition, increased waste charges are being proposed by the Government in the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which will be coming before this House in the coming weeks. That will represent a further increase in charges for the collection of household waste nationally.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food should attend the House for an urgent debate on agriculture. It appears that the new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is not fully sincere about the objectives in the Food Harvest 2020 report. Last Wednesday, funding schemes available to farmers were suspended, even though 50% of funds available for the €90 million scheme was coming from the EU. That means that 50% of the available funds from Europe cannot now be made available to Irish farmers.