Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 6

Written Answers. - Passport Applications.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

78 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of Irish passports issued by the duty officer outside normal office hours since the start of 2000; the basis for the issue of such emergency passports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26450/00]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen)

The number of passports issued by duty officers from 1 January to 26 November 2000 was 1,075 – 195 by diplomatic duty officers and 880 by passport duty officers.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has long operated a system whereby a diplomatic duty officer is on call outside normal office hours to deal with matters requiring immediate attention, including the issuing of passports of restricted validity in cases of genuine emergency. Examples of such emergencies are (a) situations of substantial distress such as the deaths or funerals of relatives abroad, (b) urgent business abroad, particularly where Ireland is the beneficiary or (c) marriages abroad or where one of a couple going on honeymoon finds a passport to have been lost or mislaid.

Since June 1999 in Dublin and April 2000 in Cork, there is an additional passport duty officer service on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays and public holidays, except on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. This service is intended to facilitate persons travelling at weekends or on public holidays who have either mislaid their passports or who find at the last moment that they are out of date. An additional fee of £50 is charged for this out of hours service but it is not applied to persons in genuine emergency situations as already defined. In the months April to September the passport duty officer service is also provided on Friday evenings from 6 p.m to 10 p.m. The Department's diplomatic duty officer continues to attend to applications for passports outside of these hours, but only in situations of genuine emergency.