There is a huge backlog of passports waiting to be processed and printed. I have heard from people all over my constituency who have had their travel plans destroyed recently. We, as Oireachtas Members, were given a telephone number the week before last so we could have direct contact with the Passport Office. Yesterday, my office was open at 9 a.m. and by 11.30 a.m. we had made five calls about passports. We were then told we could make no further calls until next week. I do not know who came up with the number five but it is not good enough by a long shot. I know of a lady waiting on her baby’s passport. She has worked as a scientist on Covid-19 research since the very start of the pandemic. She was told she may get her passport in December. I have encountered the case of a lady who is supposed to get on a flight on Saturday morning but, alas, she has no passport. There is another lady who had to cancel her plans to fly with her daughter last weekend. I could go on and on. What is the Government going to do to address the backlog and give Members of the Oireachtas access to passport offices immediately?

I acknowledge the difficulties we have had and the delays people have experienced in getting a new passport or having their passport renewed. I am sure we all have had an unprecedented number of queries in our constituency offices about this. I certainly have. It is related to issues concerning the pandemic in that a backlog built up. Also, the staff are not fully back in the passport offices. This is a matter on which the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, is working and on which he will try to make progress in the next little while.