Gay Mitchell
Ceist:302 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will address the concerns of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11749/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 27 April 2004
Ceisteanna (243)
Freagraí scríofa
An application for a three-year passport for the child concerned was received in the passport office on 7 April 2004. Under the customer action plan of the passport office, this passport was due for issue on 21 April 2004. The normal procedure when issuing a passport to a minor is that the checking officer must contact the named witness on the parental consent form which accompanies the application in order to confirm that both parents have consented in writing to the issue of a passport to the child. This is an essential procedure to protect the safety and the travel rights of the child concerned.
In this case no witness contact phone number was given. After searching for the school phone number, which was not entered on the application form, the checking officer was still unable to make contact with the witness due to the school mid-term break which covered the period from 8 April to 16 April inclusive. The checking officer realised that 19 April would be the next available date to contact the witness and that there was a danger that the passport express deadline for issue would be missed. For this reason, the application form was returned immediately to the applicant, requesting that a new parental consent form be completed in the presence of a witness who could be contacted by the passport office. Instead of meeting this request, the parent of the child applicant sent back the original papers. On 19 April the passport office was able to make contact with the witness to confirm the parents' signatures of permission to issue a passport and the passport was issued on 20 April.
The inclusion of school principals or vice-principals on the list of acceptable witnesses to parental signatures on the parental consent form was decided following careful consideration. The passport office regards these people as particularly appropriate for this purpose as they would normally know the parents of the child and thereby help to ensure that only the legal parents or guardians complete the parental consent form. However, in cases where the issue of a passport is required as a matter of urgency, the responsibility lies with the applicant to ensure that the witnesses chosen can be contacted in sufficient time.
The Deputy will be aware that the passport office provides a fine service and makes every effort to facilitate applicants provided, in the case of children, their rights are fully protected. In this case, I believe the passport office acted correctly in seeking confirmation of the witness's consent and I am pleased that, notwithstanding the additional work required as a result of this, the passport was issued within the ten-working-day period for processing Passport Express applications.