Diplomatic passports are issued in accordance with the provisions of the Passport Act, 2008. Section 16 of the Act makes particular provision for the issue of diplomatic passport to persons who hold a diplomatic rank or to persons whom the Minister for Foreign Affairs considers it appropriate to issue such a passport in order to carry out their duties. The broad provisions of this are as follows. Passports are issued to officers of diplomatic grade who are assigned abroad to serve in Irish diplomatic and consular missions, their spouses and accompanying children in full-time education. It should be noted that some officers serving in non-diplomatic grades may be issued diplomatic passports as a result of requirements of the host country. The validity of a diplomatic passport covers the duration of the foreign posting which usually is for three or four years. Officials and family members are required to surrender their diplomatic passports for cancellation on their return to Headquarters at the end of their postings. Diplomatic passports are renewed in the event that an officer’s foreign posting at a particular mission is extended or if that officer is transferred to another mission. These passports are issued to HQ-based officers who are required to travel abroad on official Departmental business. Officials of my Department who are assigned to international organisations such as European Union or the United Nations and who are required to travel on behalf of these institutions are eligible for diplomatic passports.
It is important to clarify that possession of a diplomatic passport does not, as a matter of international law, entitle the holder to any privileges or immunities, except in certain cases specifically provided for in international law or in the domestic law of the host country. However, most countries do extend some form of courtesy and consideration to persons in possession of diplomatic passports, including in some cases a fast-track immigration channel. The nature of such courtesies depends on the law and practice of each state, and, accordingly varies from state to state.
Additionally, possession of a diplomatic passport does not exempt the holder from immigration or visa requirements. Indeed, the holder of a diplomatic passport may be required by certain host countries, e.g. the United States, to obtain a visa in cases where the holder of an ordinary passport would not. Visas attached to diplomatic and official passports are normally issued free of charge.
Since 1999 a total of 224 officials of the Department have retired. A breakdown of their grades is provided in the following table.
|
Grade
|
Numbers
|
|
Secretary General
|
2
|
|
Second Secretary
|
2
|
|
Deputy Secretary
|
6
|
|
Assistant Secretary
|
28
|
|
Counsellor/Principal Officer
|
29
|
|
First Secretary/Assistant Principal Officers
|
25
|
|
Higher Executive Officers and Executive Officers
|
20
|
|
Staff and Clerical Officers
|
81
|
|
Technical staff (Legal advisers, Aid specialists etc)
|
8
|
|
Support staff ( Services Officer, Cleaners)
|
23
|
Officers who retire and/or who no longer qualify to hold a diplomatic passport are required to surrender their diplomatic passport for cancellation. A very small number of persons who were formerly employed by my Department currently hold diplomatic passports on the basis of their current status. These are officials serving in other Government Departments, the EU or the UN, or accompanying diplomatic spouses. I am informed that no retired officer outside these categories currently holds a valid diplomatic passport.
Diplomatic officers in my Department travelling for non-official purposes (other than in the case of those posted abroad who are travelling to or from their country of accreditation) are expected to travel on a standard non-diplomatic passport for which they must apply and pay for on the same basis as any other citizen. Retired officers wishing to travel abroad must do so using a standard non-diplomatic passport.
