Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, Teachta Brophy. As he will be aware, we are under strict limitations at present as a result of Covid. All of us who are present in the House are extremely aware of that and of all that has been done in that regard. This is, however, an important issue. As we are an island nation, passports are unfortunately required for people to leave this island to travel to college, to work or for medical or emergency reasons. Many people need passports to open bank accounts, to apply for driving licences, to rent houses and even for matters as simple as getting a television or phone supplier. The passport offices of most of our counterparts are still open and are providing a reasonable level of service. One only has to look across the water to Britain, which is also at the highest level of lockdown, to see quite a decent level of service being provided with regard to passports.

The number of staff involved in this particular service is quite small. I know the restrictions we are under and the challenges we face but it is not good enough that there is no one available to answer the phone or to do anything online. The number of people involved is very small. We are not talking about something like the construction industry going back to work or the large-scale movements involved in opening schools in full; we are looking at a small number of people who provide an important service. The excuse or reason that has been given before is that these employees have to be in the office and that their work is very concentrated. Security reasons have been cited as a reason that much of the work cannot be carried out from home. I understand that but it is not acceptable that there is no one to answer the phone and that passports cannot be renewed online after all the hard work has already been done in that regard. The buck stops with the Minister of State's Department.I urge him to, at least, consider a more conjoined way of thinking regarding the passport service. We have had more than a year to get some sort of a mechanism in place. It has not happened. We need to look to upgrade this.