Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On my behalf and that of the Fianna Fáil group, I wish to be associated with the Cathaoirleach and the Deputy Leader in sending our condolences to our colleague, Senator Currie, on the sad passing of her father, Austin. As the Cathaoirleach rightly said, his decision to squat a house in Caledon, County Tyrone in 1968 was widely seen and historically recorded as the beginning of the civil rights movement. He was one of the co-founders of the SDLP and, in political terms, successfully traversed the Border by later becoming a Deputy representing Dublin West. His legacy is great and I extend our sympathies and condolences to Emer and her mother, Annita, as well as her four siblings, the extended Currie family and the large circle of friends Austin accumulated during his distinguished career.

I wish to raise an issue that has been raised on several occasions in the House. I refer to the backlog of passport applications. It is the passport issue again. I welcome the moves that have been made by the Minister to provide Members with an Oireachtas contact line. Although it has had some teething problems and may not be the silver bullet we were all hoping for, it certainly has helped in many situations. All Members know why the backlog exists. Covid has been blamed, with people having to work from home and so on. However, Covid or the other aforementioned reason cannot be blamed for the lack of a little bit of common sense and a personal touch.

On two occasions recently, I thought I had been successful in getting a passport for people at closer to the 12th than the 11th hour. In both cases, I was trying to get the passport on a Friday. One of them was on the Friday of a bank holiday weekend. When we got confirmation that the passport had been printed, the confirmation also stated the passport had been posted. The passports were needed for flights that were on a Sunday and a bank holiday Monday, respectively, but the facility to collect them or even to organise a courier to collect them was not made available. There was no common sense shown. There has to be a personal touch and some common sense used. I know the staff are under pressure trying to get through the backlog but it is very simple to recognise that a passport posted at 5 p.m. on a Friday evening to a person who desperately needs it for a flight on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend will not reach the person in time and may as well not have been printed. The staff would have been as well served to put the effort into processing a passport for a person flying on the Tuesday.

It has been brought to my attention that in cases where further information is required, there is some fault in the application or the photograph is not up to standard, this is not being highlighted to the customers or clients until the due date for printing of the passport. These issues can be highlighted sooner to give people the opportunity to submit the extra information or an updated photograph or whatever the case may be in ample time. These are simple things. I do not wish to sound flippant but all it needs is a little common sense and a personal human touch. I ask the Deputy Leader to highlight these issues to the Minister such that he can bring them to the attention of supervisors or others in the Passport Office. I am not being critical of the staff. I know there is a backlog and they are working hard but it is nonsensical to post a passport on a Friday evening when it is evident and obvious it will not arrive in time.