Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 278: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if a refund will be granted to a person who turns 65 in July 2006 but has to renew their passport in May 2006. [15970/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The fees to be charged for passports are laid down by a Statutory Instrument [Diplomatic and Consular Fees (Amendment) Regulations 2005]. A person must be aged 65 years or above to be eligible to apply for a free passport. There is no provision in this Statutory Instrument to permit the Passport Office to waive the fee for persons aged less than 65 years. Apart from the legal dimension, the reality also is that, if this generous concessionary scheme is to work satisfactorily, there has to be a fixed starting date for persons to benefit under it. I should add also that new passports do not, of course, have to be applied for, or be valid from, the date when the previous passport expired.