David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise a difficulty that surrounds the Irish National Immigration Service, INIS, particularly for people who are granted refugee status in this country and then try to get their relevant papers. They are blocked because of a website that has been set up by the Department of Justice and Equality. This is the only way that refugees have to book an appointment to get a Garda National Immigration Bureau, GNIB, card in Dublin. The website is hopeless and it lacks basic functionality - the kind of things one would expect from an appointment system with a ticketing system, a queue and some basic filtering. When one goes to the website is, one enters one's details on the make appointment page and then one can click a button to search for available slots in the next ten weeks or choose a specific date within that timeframe. In reality, even if one clicks the button 100 times over a week or a month one will have wasted one's breath and one will not get a single appointment. This is the most common experience and is the result of the zero functionality of the website.

A really sinister problem has arisen. The website has been unable to filter out people who make block bookings for appointments, which they then sell on social media. It is utterly shocking that people use social networks and messenger apps to sell things that have been funded by taxpayers. It is an absolute scandal that third parties are profiteering on the backs of the taxpayer. I ask the Leader to bring this matter to the attention of the Department and ask its officials to do something about it rapidly to facilitate people who are in this difficult situation.