John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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892. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason there is no dedicated Teachta Dála line available for urgent passport queries; his views that an Irish national applying for a passport through the embassy in Madrid should be eligible to have their passport issued within a reasonable timeframe; his further views that ten weeks is reasonable; and if he will make inquiries regarding a particular case as to the reason an application made by an Irish citizen (details supplied) for the renewal and re-issue of a passport was rejected. [21277/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Passport applications from the Irish Embassy in Madrid were issued within 20 working days up until the end of March 2015. Due to a surge in demand for passports throughout the entire passport service, it is currently taking six to seven weeks to turn around passport applications for Irish missions. In relation to the passport application submitted by the applicant, her application was not rejected at any stage. When her application was initially received, the application required extensive scrutiny, due to a situation in the past, which was out of control of the applicant. Her passport was dispatched on the 29 May 2015, in time for her travel on the 11 June 2015. Currently, the Department has a dedicated channel of communication for Oireachtas representatives and any passport related queries through this channel are dealt with without delay.