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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 9 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 4

Personal Explanation by Minister.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, has given notice in writing that he wishes to make a personal explanation. I have decided to permit the personal explanation by the Minister and it should be heard without comment or intervention of any kind.

I wish to make a personal statement under Article 43 of Standing Orders.

In the Dáil last Wednesday evening I stated in response to a question from Deputy Jim O'Keeffe that there was no record in my Department's Passport Office that passports were issued to a named individual and his family. This issue had arisen earlier in the day at the foreign affairs committee when Deputy O'Keeffe had asked me to check out the position. I was very happy to do so and urgently contacted my officials to ensure that every possible effort was made to enable me to give as much information as possible to Deputy O'Keeffe later that evening in the House.

I made the statement on Wednesday evening in good faith, on the basis of information supplied to me by my officials. I learned subsequently, however, that a more extensive search of the Passport Office records on the following day revealed that passports were issued to this group on 8 December 1990. All the passports expired on 8 December 2000. Consequently, the question of revoking them, which was also raised by Deputy O'Keeffe, does not arise.

The reason I was misinformed on Wednesday evening is that the name given to me by the Deputy and subsequently used to search the Passport Office database was spelt incorrectly and therefore was different from that under which the records were stored. The Passport Office computer system is relatively old and has limited search possibilities. The entire system will be upgraded as part of the automated passport system project which it is hoped to commence in the near future.

The normal method of querying the passport database is to enter the name and date of birth of the person in question. In the absence of a date of birth, the spelling of the name entered must match the spelling of the name in the database exactly. In this case, the officials had no dates of birth and so the search was conducted on the basis of the name only. As a result, the search of the records did not reveal any record of the relevant passports having been issued.

However, when checking the phonetic version of the name during the more extensive search of the records on the following day, the true position was discovered. For the information of the House, all the passports expired on 8 December 2000.

In an effort to provide information to the Deputy at the earliest possible opportunity, I regret that I conveyed inaccurate information to the House and I am very appreciative to you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, for giving me this opportunity to correct the record.

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