Vol. 545 No. 4
127 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if a passport issued to a person (details supplied) in December 1990 or to any of the other ten recipients have been renewed since expiring in December 2000. [30868/01]
Earlier in this session, in response to the Deputy, I conveyed the information that was then available to the Passport Office. I can now confirm, following further detailed work, including through the database of the Passport Office and through checking the position with each individual embassy and consulate, that the passports issued to the person to whom the Deputy refers and to his seven family members have not been renewed.
This additional work has also shown that new passports have been issued to the other three persons, who were granted Irish citizenship at the same time as the person to whom the Deputy refers, through the embassy in London.
In light of the raising of this issue by Deputy O'Keeffe, I have instructed that the question of granting further passport facilities in these cases, if it arises, will be fully reviewed, including at political level, before any decision is taken.
Finally, in the absence of a revocation of the certificates of naturalisation in these cases, which area is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, there would be no basis for withdrawing these passports.
