Seanad debates

Thursday, 25 March 2010

1:00 am

Photo of Cecilia KeaveneyCecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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The matter I wish to raise is separate from the Passport Office industrial dispute. However, I welcome the announcement this evening by the CPSU that public counters in the Passport Office will not be closed tomorrow. This is a significant move, as people have been seriously discommoded for several weeks. I know many people who are in serious trouble with their passport applications and we hope they can be accommodated by passport office staff, although I appreciate there is a backlog and it will be difficult to appease everyone affected.

There are Passport Office branches in Dublin and Cork but all material must go to Balbriggan, County Dublin for final production. We have heard the stories about the three machines, one of which was flooded, while another is out of order, which means we are now reliant on the one on the Balbriggan site. There was a time when all passports were produced at the Molesworth Street offices but, for reasons of which I am not sure, the bulk of the service was moved to Balbriggan. What was the rationale behind this and why does this set-up need to be maintained? Will the Department examine providing more production services in its other branch offices in Dublin and Cork?

If Dublin and Cork are representative locations for Passport Office branches, will the Department examine providing one in the north west? While obviously I would push for the office to be located in Letterkenny, I would also appreciate if it were located in Derry, or as the second best option, Belfast, and available to the people of the north west on a cross-Border basis. With the current dispute in the Passport Office, it probably does not matter which branch office one attends, as I am sure the staff are in the same union and from the same background. However, apart from all of this, it would still be more convenient for a person from County Donegal to avail of one of the many handy modes of transport to Belfast or, even better, to Letterkenny or Derry, to obtain their passport rather than having to travel to Dublin.

All Passport Office locations should have passport printing machines in order that they can produce passports on site. Having two of three machines in one location would be described in any business as a monopoly. If something happens at one location, the issuing process could grind to a halt. It would make more sense to have them spread around the country. Geographically, people in the north west would be entitled to have a Passport Office branch or, as the second best option, access to a facility in Belfast.

I hope the serious individual cases I have encountered concerning passport applications will be dealt with soon. Some have had to endure terrible stress and anguish for several days, some of which was avoidable.

Photo of John CurranJohn Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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): I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I am sorry for the distress, inconvenience and, in many cases, financial loss suffered by citizens as a result of industrial action at the Passport Office. I am disappointed that through this industrial action, the heretofore excellent reputation of the Passport Office has been damaged. I urge the public service unions to suspend their industrial action in the office, in particular to allow the deployment of temporary seasonal staff, and to lift their ban on overtime in order that serious inroads can be made into the backlog of nearly 50,000 applications. The passport service is a major operation, issuing up to 600,000 passports per annum or an average of 12,000 per week. At peak periods, this weekly output climbs to around 20,000. Any curtailment of output quickly leads to large backlogs.

Customers have been experiencing significant delays in processing passport applications. The Department of Foreign Affairs has been advising the public of the extent of these problems through media channels and via the Department's website. On 4 March, the problems being experienced reached a point where the passport service had to withdraw the guaranteed turnaround times for all passport applications submitted through An Post's passport express and its Northern Ireland equivalent.

On 16 March, accommodation and equipment in the Passport Office in Molesworth Street were badly damaged as a result of an overnight water leak from offices situated above the Passport Office. As a result, it was necessary to shut the Molesworth Street operation on that day and services were temporarily provided from some of the Department's other offices in the vicinity. Work on restoring the office is complete and over recent days the level of disruption has been kept to a minimum as a result of the contingency arrangements which were put in place.

The Department has contingency measures in place to minimise disruption to the passport service. These include the operation of two production facilities and a series of passport system redundancy and resilience measures. The primary passport production site is located in Balbriggan, where there are two production units, while a further production unit is based in Molesworth Street, Dublin. Unfortunately, the production unit based in Molesworth Street sustained serious damage as a result of the flooding, possibly beyond repair.

These production units are high volume systems and operate best with large throughput. This method of high quality centralised passport production is used in many other states as it is the most efficient and cost effective method of passport production. The production units are complex systems which allow us to produce secure and highly sophisticated passports. The introduction of the biometric or e-passport on 16 October 2006 has greatly enhanced the security features of the Irish passport. This technology added to the complexity of these production systems. They are sophisticated and expensive pieces of machinery which cannot be purchased off the shelf.

While the existing capacity of Balbriggan is sufficient to meet our immediate needs, the question of establishing additional passport offices and production facilities in various locations around the country is frequently raised. Persuasive cases can be made in favour of a number of locations. However, the main obstacle to the creation of additional passport offices is cost, and the current budgetary situation is obliging the Government to curtail rather than increase expenditure on public services. Nevertheless, the matter will continue to be kept under review.

Photo of Cecilia KeaveneyCecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the answer. I appreciate the budgetary element to the issue. I also respect the fact there are constant reviews of this matter. I ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to keep under review the concept of a passport office for the north west and learning from the situation where, with two out of three machines not working-----

Photo of Fiona O'MalleyFiona O'Malley (Independent)
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): Does Senator Keaveney have a question?

Photo of Cecilia KeaveneyCecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I am asking that the Minister of State raise this with the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs. While reviewing this matter, the Department should consider Derry and Letterkenny for an office in the north west and should consider decentralising some of the machines. Three machines in one location is fair enough but three locations-----

Acting Chairman:

I must ask Senator Keaveney for a question. She is restating her argument.

Photo of Cecilia KeaveneyCecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I would have finished twice if the Acting Chairman would allow me to finish my sentence. I am asking the Minister of State-----

Acting Chairman:

To keep it under review.

Photo of Cecilia KeaveneyCecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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It is not about expenses, it is about location. There is a possibility of linking the two.

Photo of John CurranJohn Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I indicated it would be kept under constant review.