The second part of our meeting will involve a discussion with Senator Robbie Gallagher about the increasing workload of the Passport Service due to increased numbers of inquiries and requests for passports, particularly following Britain's decision to leave the European Union. I call on the Senator to make his opening remarks, following which we will have questions and answers and a discussion on this very important issue.
Passport Service: Senator Robbie Gallagher
I thank the Chairman and committee members for affording me the opportunity to address them. As I know that their time is precious, I promise this will be short and to the point.
It is fair to say and widely acknowledged that no part of the country will be affected more by Brexit than the Border counties. The impact of the referendum result and a hard Brexit will be magnified in County Monaghan which is experiencing Brexit at macro and micro levels daily.
For Monaghan and the Border counties, Brexit is not a concern for two years down the line. It is very much here and now for that community. It is interesting to note that we have had a considerable spike in demand for passports in recent times since the Brexit vote. Last year in 2016, more than 750,000 Irish passports were issued. That is 70,000 more than the 2015 figure, which represents an 9% increase. Of those 750,000 applicants, 68,000 came from Northern Ireland and 64,000 from Great Britain. The numbers from Northern Ireland represent a 26% increase and the numbers from Great Britain represents a 40% increase on 2015 figures. It is projected that these numbers will continue to grow in 2017 and beyond as the devastating realities of a hard Brexit begin to become more exposed.
Public representatives like myself and others living along the Border areas have noticed a huge number of inquiries from citizens living north of the Border about how to go about getting an Irish passport. All this has created extra pressure on the existing passport office. We believe it is timely to make the case to locate a passport office in a place like County Monaghan that would look after the northern part of our country. To give a bit of background, we believe that Monaghan is ideally located from a geographic perspective in that it borders three counties in the North, namely, Tyrone, Armagh and Fermanagh. It should also be noted that Monaghan is located along the N2. As members are aware, citizens travelling from Donegal and Derry must travel through Monaghan on their way to Dublin. It is also a main link from Belfast to the west of Ireland and Galway as that route also travels through County Monaghan. From that perspective, we believe that Monaghan is ideally located. It is more than capable of holding such a facility, being centrally located. It is quite qualified to deliver a sharp, efficient and timely service.
The location of a passport office in a county like Monaghan would send out a positive signal from the Government and would create an economic stimulus for the private sector and for the Border area generally, which as I stated earlier is suffering greatly from the impact of Brexit and will unfortunately continue to do so. The retail and agricultural sectors, particularly the mushroom industry, have been particularly badly hit in the county since the Brexit vote. The fluctuations in sterling have led to serious price differentials for growers, with fears of job losses continuing to grow. Monaghan is probably too heavily reliant on the food sector generally and those jobs are generally low skilled and low paid. As the committee is aware, we are heavily dependent on the UK market for exports.
It is also interesting to note that 85% of all schoolchildren who sit the leaving certificate exams go on to third level education, which is to be welcomed, and 87% of them subsequently go on and qualify to degree level. The only problem we have is that when we do educate them, unfortunately there is nothing for them in their home county to take them home. That is an issue we definitely need to investigate and explore further.
As one can imagine, being close to the Border retail can be particularly difficult. The fluctuations in currency can lead to quite a number of people going to Northern Ireland to shop. Such uncertainty is not good for business and subsequently has an impact on jobs and job retention.
As for IDA visits and inward investment in the county, I am saddened to note there have been something like four or five visits to the county over the past two years. Unfortunately, nothing came from that small number of visits.
The Government has rightly made great noise in recent times about rural Ireland, the regions and the need for their regeneration. The Government has a great opportunity to make a positive statement about rural Ireland. Were it to locate or consider locating a passport office in County Monaghan to service the northern part of the country, it would send out a positive message to the general community and to the private sector. The private sector might then look at this region and at Monaghan as a potential business location in the future.
A hard Brexit potentially would bring further issues in respect of Border crossings and Border patrols. God knows that is the last thing we want to see. A passport office would aid the continued co-operation that currently exists between North and South. I urge the Minister, Deputy Charlie Flanagan, his Department and this committee to give serious consideration to this proposal to examine the possibility of a passport office to cater for the northern part of our country. As I indicated earlier, it would send out a positive statement that the Government is taking seriously rural Ireland, the regions and the future of counties like Monaghan. I thank the Chairman and members for their time and wish them well in their work in the future.
I thank Senator Gallagher. It is a very important subject matter. As the Senator quite rightly pointed out, those public representatives who live in the Border region have seen a huge increase in the number of people contacting us from north of the Border about passport services. My office and I have received calls, as I know has the Senator, from a huge number of people from the North of Ireland applying for passports or whose family members intend to apply for Irish passports in the future. I believe the Senator's proposal is a very good one. There is a public passport office in Dublin and another in Cork. If we are to deal with the reality that there will be a increasing number of people from Northern Ireland seeking Irish passports following Brexit, I believe the proposal to have a public office adjacent to or centrally situated in the northern half of the country to cater for areas on both sides of the Border is a worthy one.
Immediately after Christmas, I had a huge number of calls from people living in counties Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh who were about to apply to or were seeking information on our passport service. I believe it is heartening that people are applying for Irish passports and we should make it as easy as possible for them if they wish to go to a public office. Departments and statutory agents would say that nowadays, one can get everything online. Not everybody has the capacity to go online and it is simply not acceptable that there is not ready access to a public office if a person wants to go and meet the officials and persons dealing with the subject matter. I believe it is a good proposal that I hope our committee will support. Personally, I am very supportive of the proposal. Does Deputy Barrett want to say a quick word?
I am happy with the Chairman's support.
I support Senator Gallagher and the Chairman on this concept. It is a case well made. Brexit obviously makes it more relevant. We have a passport office down in Cork and obviously in Dublin. However, there is nothing to facilitate anybody north of Galway and Dublin to get a passport appointment. If one is coming from Donegal to Dublin, it is a long way to go, whereas people from Kerry, Limerick and Waterford can go to Cork. It is a huge difference. What we are highlighting here accidentally is discrimination against anybody north of Galway and Dublin. Under the Good Friday Agreement, everybody within Northern Ireland is entitled to be a citizen of the Irish State. They are citizens of the Irish nation and should all be treated equally and have equal access to passports.
On the issue of emergency passports, I received a phone call from a person in County Donegal last night to which I replied nothing could be done. The person simply could not get to the passport office in time to get to a flight from Knock. Whereas if there was an office in Monaghan and a person was coming from Donegal, it would only have been down the road to Knock. That is the practical element of what Senator Gallagher is talking about. It is something that we should put forward as a formal motion in the committee. Perhaps we could raise it when the Minister comes before the committee and perhaps Senator Gallagher could attend that meeting to put forward the idea. Brexit makes it relevant, in terms of our overall response to it, particularly in the area of citizenship. As many of the committee are aware, the passport office is now absolutely overwhelmed.
In the past, someone who needed an emergency passport in the aftermath of a bereavement to travel to England, where one gets nearly two weeks' notice, would have been facilitated by the Passport Office, but now the pressure on the office means it cannot get passports out in such circumstances, even to those who arrive at the counter. For that reason, I think Senator Gallagher's proposal regarding Monaghan is a case well made.
I am conscious of the note we received on this matter, which we discussed when representatives of the Passport Office were before the committee. They did not have any plans to open additional passport offices at that stage, although they said they would keep service levels under review. I suggest it is worth asking the question and making the case again in the context of the numbers we have heard, which would justify such a review.
I have listened to Senator Gallagher expressing his frustration about the failure of the recovery to have an impact on parts of rural Ireland, including County Monaghan. I am conscious that two days after the Brexit vote, a passport office in Belfast ran out of passport forms and had to place an emergency order for more forms. According to figures we have been given, 46,257 passport applications were received from the North between January 2016 and July 2016. This represented an increase of 18.85% on the figure for the same period in the previous year. As people start to appreciate the reality of the impact that Brexit and its implications will have for them, it is generally accepted that there will be an increase in applications for Irish passports. In July 2016, there were 6,638 applications for Irish passports. This represented an increase of 63.1% on the July 2015 figure.
It has been mentioned that there are passport offices in Dublin and Cork. I am based in Dublin. I encounter the same issues as other elected representatives even though there is a passport office in Dublin. Huge difficulties can arise when people need to get passports at the last minute. I have heard what others have said about how difficult it is to help people in the North to enfranchise their rights from that location. It could be argued that an office should be located in Belfast as the second largest city on the island. I do not mean to detract from Senator Gallagher's idea when I say that. I recently spoke to an elected representative from Donegal who said it would not be unusual for him to have to try to deal with 100 passports. The difficulty is that the removal of the passport facility which Deputies used to enjoy is making things awkward. Members of the committee know from their own experience that demands are placed on elected representatives in respect of passports. I do not think the idea that an office could be located in Belfast takes away from Senator Gallagher's suggestion.
It has been identified that there is a difficulty in this regard. My argument is that there is a clear need for an office in Belfast or Derry. I have no difficulty with Senator Gallagher's proposal. My genuine belief, based on all the indications we are receiving, is that demand is going to grow in the North. We need to plan for that possibility. It would make it easier for people if a passport office were located in one of the locations we have mentioned. I know from talking to people that even though there is an office in London, there is a demand for a similar service in Liverpool, Newcastle and other cities with large first-generation or second-generation Irish communities. People in the third generation, whose grandparents moved to Britain from Ireland, also have an entitlement in this area. We need to look outside the box. I think Senator Gallagher's proposal is helping us to do that. I suggest that as part of any proposal, we should look at locating a passport office in Belfast.
I thank Senator Gallagher for his presentation. I think his suggestion makes complete sense. It is especially relevant to those living in the area near the Northern counties. The decentralisation of a Passport Office makes sense in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and as a sign of goodwill from ourselves down in the South towards our colleagues and citizens in Northern Ireland. It would be of assistance in the context of the current level of unemployment, as a focal point and as a signal that people do not have to go to Dublin or Cork to get their passports. I certainly support the Senator.
Is there anything in particular that Senator Gallagher wishes to add?
I thank the Deputies and Senators for their comments. While I take Deputy Crowe's well-made point about Belfast, I remind the committee that Belfast is a strong and vibrant city. I am concentrating here on an area of rural Ireland and a region that is trying to catch up with the big cities in the rest of the country. Perhaps we should be looking at Deputy Crowe's suggestion, but my main focus today is on rural Ireland, particularly the Border region.
Senator Gallagher's proposal, which makes absolute sense, has the unanimous support of the committee. I propose that we should write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to ask him to ensure the proposal gets urgent and favourable consideration. The whole idea of Brexit has knocked the stuffing out of communities. Those of us who grew up in Border parishes thought we had left behind the era of permanent vehicle checkpoints and Border controls. Any move by the Government to ensure a new facility is provided in the Border community to serve a large part of the country would send a very good message. I am sure the passport service draws in enough revenue to fund a large part of its outgoings. Senator Gallagher and I know from our experience and from speaking to colleagues of all parties from the Northern half of the country, that people have shown a huge interest in seeking and demanding information about passports. Every day of the week, we receive calls from all over Northern Ireland and elsewhere regarding passports. I think that as the number of people making applications continues to grow, the numbers that have been mentioned here today will be exceeded considerably. With the agreement of the committee, we will write to the Minister to outline our strong support for Senator Gallagher's proposal.
I would like to make a suggestion in the context of the forthcoming Estimates process. We could ask the Department, as it is bringing in the Estimates, to estimate the cost of setting up another Passport Office. If we are going to move this forward, someone will have to come up with a price for it. If officials from the Department were able to bring such details with them when they attend the Estimates meeting, it might be of assistance to Senator Gallagher's proposal.
I thank Senator Daly for that suggestion. I thank Senator Gallagher for his contribution to today's proceedings.
I thank the joint committee.
When we are sending our letter to the Minister, perhaps we can ask him to tease out the idea of locating a Passport Office in Belfast. It is clear from the number of applications coming from Northern Ireland that there is a substantial level of demand there. It should not be a case of either Monaghan or Belfast. We should be able to make the case for both.
We can do that.