Written answers

Tuesday, 1 July 2014

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Passport Application Refusals

Photo of John McGuinnessJohn McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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105. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason a passport has not been issued to a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny in view of the fact that the person has a certificate of naturalisation dated 2012; the reason documents accepted by the Department of Justice and Equality are now being questioned by the passport section. [28464/14]

Photo of Eamon GilmoreEamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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All passport applications are subject to the provision of Passports Act, 2008 (the Act). The issue of a passport is, therefore, the culmination of an important and legally-binding process. The checks and balances within the passport process embrace the standard principles that are provided for in the Act and help to ensure that the person in question is an Irish citizen andthat the identity of the applicant is known. This serves to maintain the worldwide good reputation and integrity of the Irish passport, which, in turn, ensures the safe travel and wellbeing of Irish citizens, as they travel abroad. Moreover, it helps to combat passport and identity fraud.The Act underpins a long-standing passport policy in regard to the use of verifiable civil documents such civil birth certificates for first-time applicants. These documents confirm the details of a person’s birth name, date and place of birth, all of which are critical components of a person’s identity. The Passport Service received an application from the person in question on 20/06/2012. As part of the standard examination processes, the birth certificate supplied by the applicant was found not to be authentic. The applicant subsequently produced another birth certificate which has also been confirmed as not a genuine document. In the circumstances the Passport Service could not be satisfied as to the identity of the applicant and as a result, the application for an Irish passport could not be approved. The matter has been referred to the Department of Justice and Equality.

The Passport Service is not questioning the procedures regarding the issuing of naturalisation certificates by the Department of Justice and Law Reform. Rather, the Passport Service is following the requirements of the Passport Act 2008 to verify the identity of the applicant i.e. that the person who has submitted the application is who they claim to be. This is the same process followed for all first time applicants e.g. the presentation of an Irish birth certificate alone as obtained from the General Register Office is not acceptable without other forms of identity documents. These are normal processes and are in place for the purposes of mitigating the risk not only of potential passport fraud, but also to protect against attempts at identity theft.

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