asked the Minister for External Affairs if he will consider issuing permits instead of passports to those who intend to travel to Lourdes next year for the special centenary celebrations.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Permits and Passports for Travellers to Lourdes.
Presumably what the Deputy means by "a permit" is a travel document costing less than a passport.
In the early post-war period when travel was again becoming possible, my Department gave consideration to the position of large numbers of citizens travelling abroad on pilgrimages and for other purposes and, with a view to facilitating them, made arrangements with a number of countries, including France, for the recognition of collective passports. As a result, it is now possible for Irish citizens to travel on a collective passport costing £1 10s. to most of the countries of Western Europe.
Under these arrangements, a properly organised group of up to 50 Irish citizens may be included on a collective passport. Only the leader of the group need be in possession of an individual passport. The other members have merely to obtain from their local Gardaí an identity card at a cost of 1/-.
These arrangements may, of course, be availed of by all persons travelling to Lourdes next year.