Passports for Investment Scheme.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 November 2005

Wednesday, 2 November 2005

Ceisteanna (247)

Joe Costello

Ceist:

335 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to reports emerging from a court case in the Bahamas that a person (details supplied) who received an Irish passport under the passports for investment scheme has six Irish passports; the date on which the original passport was issued; the date on which each subsequent passport was issued; the location from which it was issued; the circumstances in which it was issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31501/05]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

It is important to state that the person in question holds only one valid Irish passport. His first passport was issued in 1995 following the granting of citizenship through naturalisation to him by the then Minister for Justice, Deputy Nora Owen. His passport history is set out as follows:

	Place of Issue	Date of Issue	Status
Passport 1	Dublin	26/04/1995	Cancelled
Passport 2	Dublin	18/01/1996	Cancelled
Passport 3	Dublin	06/02/1997	Cancelled
Passport 4	Dublin	08/04/1998	Lost
Passport 5	Dublin	09/11/1999	Cancelled
Passport 6	Dublin	26/07/2000	Valid

The first three passports were each returned for cancellation and new passports issued in their place. The fourth passport was reported as lost and, as a result, a limited validity passport was issued in its place. This latter passport was returned in due course for cancellation and a replacement passport to full validity was issued.