Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like other Members, I compliment you, a Chathaoirligh, and the Ceann Comhairle on the historic address by President Zelenskyy to the Houses this morning. This all started six weeks ago and it has been horrific to imagine what has happened. I got a 16-year-old into a school and I have somebody else who is getting extra hours for English as an additional language. It is happening on the ground in Ireland. The Irish people, the State and all of us are doing everything we can, but it is an awful pity that all this destruction and wanton viciousness is allowed. We all stand with the people of Ukraine.

I welcome the most senior member of the Colombian Government ever to visit Ireland, the Colombian Vice President, Marta Lucía Ramírez. She is the country's first female vice president as well as its foreign affairs minister. She has been here since Monday and I understand she is flying out tomorrow. I met her yesterday evening. We have an excellent relationship with Colombia and long may that continue and improve. It is worthy of the House to acknowledge her presence in this country.

I wish to make three brief points. Members of the transport committee visited Dublin Airport on Monday to understand the challenges it is going through. It has approximately 600 security staff and needs to increase that to approximately 900. The biggest problem it is having is Garda vetting and what is called enhanced background checks, which involves referring back to another jurisdiction if people have lived out of the State for more than six months. The challenge is the Garda vetting system appears to be quite slow.

There is also an issue with tourism generally in respect of work permits. People in the hospitality sector have told me it is taking them ten months to get people work permits to work in their industry. They are effectively turning away guests because they do not have enough staff to cope with them.

Finally, there is the passports issue. I am still getting, and I am sure this is the case for all Members, endless numbers of passport queries. Sometimes it is the applicants' fault, but a lot of the time it is clogged up in the system. The office could have a screening process where the initial passport application is looked at immediately and, if there is something wrong, it is sent back that day, instead of it sitting in a pile for days or weeks and, when it is reached, it has to go back to the start of the process again. It is very frustrating. I know the office is doing its best but we need to improve it.