asked the Minister for External Affairs whether he is aware that citizens of the Saorstát resident in Donegal seeking passports to or having other Consular business to transact with the United States of America are required to go to Belfast for the purpose; if so, whether he will make representations to the United States Government with a view to obviating the necessity for Saorstát citizens to travel outside the jurisdiction of the Saorstát for the transaction of such business.
WRITTEN ANSWER. - DONEGAL RESIDENTS AND AMERICAN PASSPORTS.
TOMAS MAC EOIN
Citizens of Saorstát Eireann resident in County Donegal obtain their passports from Dublin, through the local Superintendents of the Gárda Síochána in the same way as citizens resident in any other part of the Saorstát.
Consular districts are based on considerations of administrative convenience, and Donegal is included in the United States Consular District of Belfast, to which residents of that county must go to obtain a U.S. Visa or to transact other American Consular business. The alteration of the Consular district involves a redistribution as between Consular district of the emigration quota and of other Consular functions, and it is not considered desirable to request the United States Government to make such alteration until the boundaries of Saorstát Eireann have been settled.