Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like everybody else, I am keen to ensure that national documents such as driving licences and passports are fraud-proof, and I am aware that Interpol has often discussed this, particularly with regard to passport fraud. The 34 national driver licence services centres have, at least in theory, been put there in order to counter fraud with regard to driving licences. I could not find the figures for fraud relating to driving licences but that does not mean they do not exist. Perhaps the Minister of State could highlight those, as we often use the term in a broad sense but when we try to find specifics, it proves to be a wee bit more difficult.

Despite great effort, including ringing the national driving licence service centres and the Department, I could not find out the cost of this new network of centres. I appreciate that bringing together a network of centres is not an easy task and this was done in order to streamline the issuing of driving licences. In the immediate aftermath of the opening of the centres, there has been an enormous backlog, which was not anybody's intent. I am not here to criticise in that regard and I assume it will be sorted.

There are issues about which to be worried. Why are we bothered to have people have photographs and signatures taken when we still use the post offices to issue passports? Is it the intent of the Government to change the system for passports, given there is much more fraud relating to passports? They are both documents of identity and if there is a new system for one, perhaps there will be a new system for the other. The other matter about which I am concerned relates to the idea that we have a network of post offices across the country. The Minister of State is from a rural constituency so he knows the value of those offices, which is not to be undermined or cheapened in any way, shape or form. They are very useful places to pay for bills and television or dog licences. Various banks use them for banking facilities, and one can get a passport through the post office. I had a very good experience in that regard, taking the hassle away from the Passport Office when it was very busy. I appreciate that it may be possible that post offices put in for the tender but did not get it.

Are we properly proofing those tender applications for the rural communities, which in this case are assured there is only a 50 km drive if people want to get a driving licence? A young person seeking a driving licence may have to ask somebody for a lift, and people are short of money and it is a bit of a schlep to get to various places. There is only one centre where I live in Sligo, and Donegal only has two centres in Letterkenny and Donegal; many areas in the two counties are quite a distance from these centres. There is only one centre in Mayo, along with half a centre in Belturbet. It seems the network is incomplete and I wonder if the Government's intention is to extend it, or perhaps post offices may come to the rescue in this matter, given that they form a network in their own right. They serve a valuable purpose in more ways than we imagine.

Will the Minister of State provide the cost of the centres and the level of fraud that is recorded? Is it the Government's intention to change the system for passports and has the proofing for rural communities been taken into account in this case? If it has not, could that process be incorporated in future? I am sure the Minister of State is well aware of the good work of Irish Rural Link, particularly Mr. Seamus Boland. Those people are always to the fore in asking us to proof issues for the rural community, and I cannot see how that could have been missed in this case.