Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach. Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire go dtí an Seanad agus comhghairdeas a ghabháil leis as an méid oibre atá déanta ag an Roinn, ag a oifig féin agus ag oifig na bpasanna freisin chun déileáil leis an bhfadhb agus leis na hiarratais ar phasanna a thagann isteach.

As we heard from Senator Ahearn, the extraordinary demand for passports recently has been a problem on one hand, but also, on the other, a challenge that the Minister’s Department has met. I congratulate him for having the foresight to put in place measures to deal with this demand. I also congratulate the people who work in the Department, and specifically those who work in the Passport Office. During the lockdowns, especially, a coterie of staff, from clerical officers up to management, had to deal with the demand for passports and put in long hours to respond during difficult times when restrictions were in place in workplaces. This motion specifically acknowledges and praises the work done by all these people. It is appropriate to praise all the staff in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Equally, it is not just the Passport Office facilities in Dublin and Cork that have dealt with this issue, but also our embassies and consulates around the world. They have dealt with people, my family included, applying for passport renewals or passports for new children. It is appropriate that the House records its recognition of the level of work done in this regard.

Like Senator Ahearn, I acknowledge to the foresight that was evident in recognising that a demand would be coming down the line to a degree that has manifested. For example, in the aftermath of Brexit, for example, there was a great demand for passports from people who wanted to register themselves as Irish. Equally, as we emerge from the restrictions that were in place, and as people look forward to travelling this summer, and even before that, many people who may not have thought about it for some time must now renew their passports. I welcome the Minister securing funding from the Government to ensure that the necessary resources and personnel are in place to meet future demand.

The motion also seeks to explore how much more we can do to streamline the process and ensure that procedures are in place to respond to this increased demand. There is also a focus on eliminating bureaucracy. The motion calls on the Minister to examine the application process to see if there are elements of bureaucracy that can be removed or streamlined in some way to ensure the process of getting a passport is as easy as it can be. From speaking to people who have applied for passports, I am aware that difficulties can arise with the process, perhaps with a missing document or one not fully compliant, etc. The tracking service online is excellent and gives a good picture of when people can expect to get their passports. However, a notification concerning of a problem should be sent to people as soon as possible. In recent times, I am aware of people who said that the passport application had been with the Passport Office for a while. Even though the application may have had a document signed by the wrong category of person or a photograph that did not meet the requirements, the applicants were not notified about the problem until later. The delay then led to a scramble to get the proper documentation in order. I wonder if the Minister could put some measure in place to ensure that there is an opportunity for the officials to identify potential problems early in the process and allow them to be remedied earlier rather than later.

In that regard, there is a twofold challenge. The Department faces a challenge because it is incredibly difficult, on the one hand, to marry the efficiency and speed involved in getting the passport application fulfilled and the document back to the citizen, while, on the other, ensuring that we maintain the highest standards of security and protect the status of our passport, which is one of the more valuable passports for access around the world. For example, and the motion also calls for this, it would be appropriate to run an information campaign to ensure that people know exactly what is required of them during the passport application process. Now, it might well be said that all that information is contained on the forms, and of course it is. As people who fill out forms regularly, the Minister and I know that forms are not always as clear as they might be. Even though people read them carefully, they might still make a mistake. Therefore, there is room to mount social media and public information campaigns and for online videos, etc., to help people to prepare passports applications and to ensure that those applications are successful and processed as quickly as possible.

In that regard, I also endorse the idea advanced by Senator Ahearn of reminders or alerts for people. They exist in many other contexts. Unlike Senator Ahearn, I very diligently pay my motor tax and I would never be so flippant about it. There are many ways in which the relevant systems can alert people of an upcoming problem. There is a similar opportunity to do that with passport applications to ensure that people will be aware of a potential problem coming down the line.

I also want to raise with the Minister something that is not specifically mentioned in the motion, but it is an issue that many people who travel with children have come to me with. It concerns a situation where the children may not have the same name as the parent or guardian. Women can be particularly affected by this problem when they are travelling under their maiden name, while their children might carry their husband’s name. Indeed, it could also be an issue for a man travelling with the children of a woman to whom he is not married and those children have the woman’s name. A parent or guardian travelling with a child with a different name encounters myriad problems going through passport control. Not unreasonably, the officer carrying out that control check wants to establish that the children are legitimately travelling with a person and that they are his or her children.I understand most of the people in that situation now carry birth certificates with them but I do not think that is what they should do. I know this is not just an Irish problem and, presumably, it exists with passports in every jurisdiction. One of the solutions that has been suggested to me is that children under 18, or up to a certain age, should have their parents’ or guardians’ names printed into their passports so it is very easy to identify who that person is. That may create other problems that need to be addressed but it is something we could put in place to make it easier for citizens to cross borders when going on holidays or travelling for whatever reason with their children. As I said, it affects a not insignificant number of citizens travelling with children under 18 and there is an artful solution.

I know from speaking to the Minister's office that this may create other problems because it is not standard across systems, for example, travelling through a border in Germany when people there do not know about this system might create problems. I wonder if the Minister's office and the very experienced and professional people in the Department could put their heads together to find some solution to ensure there is a facility so guardians and parents travelling with children do not have to go through the rigmarole of establishing that the children travelling with them are their children. It would just make everything easier.

In seconding and supporting this motion, it is important to acknowledge the amount of work that is done by the Minister's office in that regard and the foresight shown. We hope the measures the Minister puts in place now will deal with the anticipated demand as restrictions are lifted and people return to travel, which we all welcome. In that way, we can ensure the Passport Office is equipped to deal with that anticipated demand. I congratulate the Minister on the work done so far, which is to his enormous credit, and we hope we will see exactly the same kind of work continue into the future.