Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 22: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason widows and widowers are required to provide a sworn affidavit to support their claims of sole guardianship when applying for new passports for their children when this is not the case for parents whose spouses are still alive. [36550/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Passports Act 2008 states that the Minister shall, before issuing a passport to a child, be satisfied on reasonable grounds that each person who is a guardian of the child consents to the issue of a passport to the child. Section 6 of the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 provides that married parents of a child are joint-guardians. Therefore if both are alive they are both required to give consent for the issuance of a passport to a minor. In the case where a guardian of the child is deceased it does not necessarily follow that the remaining guardian is now the sole guardian. For instance a guardian can also, in a will or deed, appoint someone else to be a testamentary guardian after he or she dies. For this reason the surviving parent must sign and complete an affidavit stating that no other person is a guardian by operation of law, that a person has not been appointed by any other way and that there are no other circumstances by which a guardian has been appointed.