James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the recently issued passport of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 18, has the place of birth specified as Israel, when previous passports held by the person referred to Jerusalem, which was in fact the place of birth; the way such a change, which carries potentially negative connotations for travel, should have been imposed on an Irish citizen, who by an accident of birth was born, in what at the time came under the British Mandate for Palestine, but if born in Dublin would have such on the passport, rather than Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13836/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Previous passports were issued to the person in question with place of birth recorded as Jerusalem. A new Automated Passport System was put in place in 2005. The system reads place of birth as entered on the passport application form and compares it against a list of countries. When the system was being put in place no provision, inadvertently, was made in the list of locations for Jerusalem.

The person in question wrote directly to my Department about this issue and has received a reply expressing appreciation for her correspondence and stating that we fully agree that her place of birth should be recorded as Jerusalem, and that a replacement passport — obviously on a gratis basis — will be issued to her.