Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 896: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the role of the duty officer in the Passport Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28613/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Duty Officer services provided by the Passport Office were extended in June 1999 and the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews T.D., wrote to all members of the Oireachtas on 25 June of that year outlining the features of the new scheme. The Department operates two services whereby passport facilities are provided outside of working hours, by the Passport Duty Officer Service in Dublin and Cork and by the Diplomatic Duty Officer Service.

The Passport Duty Officer Service is provided on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays year round, except on Christmas Day and New Years Day. It operates from 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and from 9am to 2pm on Sundays and public holidays. During the peak travel season, April to August inclusive, the service is extended in Dublin and operates from 6pm to 10pm on Fridays, 9am to 5pm on Saturdays and from 9am to 2pm on Sundays and public holidays. The Passport Duty Officer provides full facilities to persons who have mislaid their passports, whose passports have been lost or stolen or who find at the last minute that they are out of date.

The Department's Diplomatic Duty Officer, who also has other duties, continues to attend to applications for passports outside these hours but only in genuine emergencies. Genuine emergencies are (i) situations of genuine and substantial distress such as the death or funeral of a relative or a relative dying abroad; (ii) urgent business abroad, particularly where Ireland is a beneficiary; or (iii) marriage abroad or a couple going on honeymoon when one of them finds a passport to have been lost or stolen. The Diplomatic Duty Officer is not authorised to issue passports in other circumstances. For reasons to do with security and with the legal position of minors, the Diplomatic Duty officer is not authorised to issue passports to minors or first-time applicants outside of normal hours except in situations of genuine emergency as outlined above.

Since the introduction of the Passport Duty Officer Service, in excess of 7,000 passports have been issued through this service. I wish to acknowledge the commitment and dedication of both the Passport office staff and the Diplomatic Duty Officers in providing this highly valued service to the travelling public.