Vol. 414 No. 9
49 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason space for only six children is provided for in the new style EC passports; and if he will propose, to his EC colleagues, a revised format to cater for large families.
The current format of the Irish passport dates from 1 January 1985, the date set by a resolution of 23 June 1981 under which the member states of the European Community agreed to issue national passports in a uniform format. This resolution required that, in the case of those member states which issue family passports, details of the spouse of holder should be set out on a specified page of the passport and that provision should be made for entry of details of children of the holder on the same page as the spouse.
In its present form, the family passport issued in Ireland includes a photograph of the spouse of the holder. Because of this, the space remaining on that page of the passport is insufficient to allow details of more than six children to be entered. However, if a passport holder wishes to include more than six children on a passport, an extra passport booklet setting out the names of the additional children is issued free of charge.
This arrangement has worked reasonably well to date. However, I will keep it under review and if there are improvements which can be made to the format of the passport within the terms of the relevant EC resolution, I would be willing to have them considered.
