Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the update and fully understand the restrictions on the Minister of State. He acknowledges and reaffirms a number of important positions of Government, which is welcome and encouraging. If raising this seems somewhat unfair of me, I am not trying to dupe the Minister of State or get him to reveal his hand. I am trying to encourage and sustain the pressure because citizens in the North would expect me to do as much. As well as the macro-political negotiations, people also want to see physical, visible manifestations of Irish Government support and continued endorsement. This is perfectly in line with the word and letter of the Good Friday Agreement when one considers that there is existing Irish government infrastructure in the Six Counties. The issue is one of determining how best we utilise that to support the needs of citizens who are crying out for greater Irish Government investment. When they look across the water and see what is happening there, they do not have much faith in or support for what the British Government is doing.

With regard to the Passport Office, it is no wonder that we need to employ an additional 230 staff, given that the Secretary General of the Department has acknowledged that the passport service is under immense pressure. Last year, more than 82,000 passport applications came from the Six Counties and that figure is anticipated to rise again this year. Would it not make far more sense to locate some of those 230 people in the North rather than in Cork? The radically increasing number of passport applications is being processed at the farthest possible point from where they are originating. With regard to how we utilise the existing infrastructure and deal with people directly in service interface and delivery, it would make much more sense to invest for the future and direct some of those staff to where the growing demand is generated. I will raise the matter again, no doubt.