Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit agus ba mhaith liom a léiriú go bhfuil mé an-bhuíoch de go bhfuil an seal agam an rún seo a chur os comhair an tSeanaid agus go bhfuil an deis againn an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a phlé. Is é seo ábhar atá luaite agamsa go mion minic sa Seanad seo agus i Seanad an téarma dheireanaigh. Ar na mallaibh, tá mé sásta a rá go bhfuil sé luaite agus tacaithe ag a lán Seanadóirí ó achan grúpa sa Seanad mar gheall go ritheann sé le ciall go mbeadh a leithéid d'oifig, a leithéid de sheirbhís agus a leithéid de chearta ar fáil do mhuintir na Sé Chontae. I thank the Minister of State for joining us for tonight's debate and welcome the opportunity, alongside colleagues, to speak in the debate and to move the motion. In doing so I will give the Minister of State, so he has a clear understanding of where I am coming from, a little context. It was actually the Minister of State's party colleague and my Seanad colleague and friend, Senator Wilson, who tabled a motion exactly the same as this one. That motion received cross-party signatures in the Seanad. We had signatories from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and the Independent Group. That motion was submitted in June of this year. It is identical in its wording to tonight's motion. I understand the competition there is among the larger groups for Private Members' business slots, and there is competition among the smaller groups for such slots as well, so I am really happy my colleagues in the Seanad agreed we could use our Private Members' time to move this motion because it is an important one. I think I am right in saying the Minister of State has been before the Seanad to take Commencement matters on this issue from me in the past. Certainly, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has done so numerous times, in both the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-fifth Seanaid. Before him, the former Minister, Deputy Flanagan, also often did so.

There are a couple of important points to make about this issue. I say all this in a non-party-political and non-ideological way. I say what I am about to say tonight and in every debate on this issue in the context of services, the need and demand for services and the expectation that they be delivered in an accessible and tangible way to people closest to where they need them.

For the first time ever, last year, in the North, and this is significant, more people applied for an Irish passport than for a British one. That is indicative of the steady, if not sharp, incline in applications for Irish passports, particularly after Brexit. I always think of an anecdotal story when talking about this issue. The morning after the Brexit result, my local post office, in the staunchly loyalist and very proudly unionist and loyalist community of the Lower Newtownards Road, ran out of Irish passport applications. The recent census figures in the North showed a 63.5% increase in Irish passport holders there. The Minister might say - and he would have an argument but I would have a counter - that all those figures show that the passport service is working fine and does not need any additional infrastructure or improvement. He might say that post offices across the North offer a passport express service and that that is sufficient. However, many colleagues have experienced similar issues in their constituencies right across the island. We know that when there has been a problem, it has been proven that there have been delays. There has been a particular problem with either the applicants themselves or us as political representatives being able to get through to speak to a human being.There is an issue in the North in particular, because of the nature of the passport express service through the post office. While it is a very pleasant and efficient experience to submit your paper copy of an application at the post office, and I do not deny that, if you encounter a problem or an issue with your application, you cannot go back to the post office and ask to speak to someone about your passport application, if it has been delayed and if you cannot get through to the Passport Office. The post office staff will just look at you and say that they cannot help with that; the application is gone in.

All of these issues indicate the clear rationale and clear need for a passport office in the North. I was very happy to sign the previous motion that was tabled on a cross-party basis. I am not hung up on where such a passport office is located. A lot of people west of the Bann would make a very justifiable and understandable call, given the deficit of service infrastructure there, for an office in that area which could service not just Derry, Coleraine, Omagh and Strabane but also Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and further afield. The real issue here, as shown by my own online petition which has over 32,000 signatures, is that an office in the North is needed.

What I am always conscious of and very careful about is acknowledging the absolutely fantastic work of the Passport Office staff. It was a particularly difficult time during Covid, when services were reduced right across various sectors but people stepped up and did great work. It has not been easy. Like many colleagues across the Chamber, I have dealt with lots of emergency situations and the people in the Passport Office have been extremely helpful, attentive and understanding in bringing a resolution to peoples' particular issues. That is really fantastic and is very much appreciated by me and by the people on whose behalf I make representations. Alongside that, however, there are many experiences where that has not been the case. That is not the fault of the Passport Office staff and by no means am I suggesting that it is. Part of the rationale for calling for investment in further services and infrastructure is to lift the burden on existing Passport Office staff, to spread and share the load and to ensure that the staff in existing sites and locations are not dealing with the huge volume of applications we have seen in recent months and on various sporadic occasions over the last number of years.

Another issue that I raise quite regularly in this House is Article 2 of the Constitution, which talks about the right and entitlement of everyone born on the island of Ireland to be part of the Irish nation and probably the most common expression of that is the holding of a passport. I also make the case quite regularly that the Government must give effect, in a more tangible way, to that article of Bunreacht na hÉireann. Irish citizens, no matter where they are on this island, deserve services. They deserve the ability to be able to engage with a human being. Many times people have said to me that if someone could tell them that their application will take six weeks and they know that, then they would be okay. The problem is that they have spent hours and hours on the phone or on the webchat and have not been able to get clarity. A lot of this is about ensuring that people have the opportunity to go in and speak to a human being about their particular case.

In our budget submission, Sinn Féin has allocated finances for the opening of a dedicated branch of the Passport Office in the North. People pay for this service and that is an important point to remember. When they pay for a service they should be given the highest standard of service. An Irish passport is a very precious, important and symbolic document. We all value it, what it gives to us and what it means for us internationally. All I am arguing for and all that this motion argues for is that we would improve on foot of the lessons learned. I ask that we would learn from our experience, particularly over the past number of months, and hear the calls for greater collaboration, greater sharing of resources and infrastructure across our island and ensure that people have the opportunity and the ability to avail of an important investment by the Government, not just in an office and in passports, but in people, an investment that says to them they are valued and are part of the Irish nation. The Government can show people they are valued by investing in an office where they can go to avail of one of the very fundamental, important and basic rights and entitlements.

I hope colleagues will support this motion. I am absolutely certain they will not oppose it. I look forward to hearing the contributions of colleagues and to concluding tonight's debate.