I thank the Minister of State for being here. I wish to raise the need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to make a statement on the modernising of the Garda verification system for first-time passport applicants or applications being treated as first-time applications, specifically to introduce an IT-based system or element so the process is not solely reliant on phones being answered, which is not always possible in busy Garda stations.

I, like all Members of the Oireachtas, receive representations on passports quite a lot and especially at this time of year as people are heading away on their holidays. Part of the security arrangement for first-time passports, whether for a child or adult, or an application being treated as a first-time application, which happens when the last passport issued to someone was in excess of 15 years previously, is verification by a garda of the identity of the applicant. When processing the application, the passport service will ring the Garda station up to three times to confirm the details of the application. I have read that where the passport service cannot reach the Garda station after three attempts, the relevant superintendent’s office can be contacted to verify the details, although in a lot of recent cases when I contacted the Passport Office’s Oireachtas service on applications this option has not been mentioned. Rather, I was informed a new form would be requested from the applicant. It is not clear to me how often the option to phone the relevant superintendent is used.

Regardless, this procedure seems incredibly unfair, given that a family may miss their holiday because there is no one available to answer a call in a Garda station. I was made aware of one recent case of a man in his 80s having to be driven to Dublin to secure his passport for a family trip. It is not acceptable that in 2026 we do not have a digital system in place to ensure the timely verification of the details by gardaí. Remedying this should be a priority. It is an issue which can and should be solved in a relatively straightforward manner. If a digital system were to be implemented, it could be completed by qualified administrative staff. That would have the bonus of freeing up extra Garda resources to focus their attention on crimes.

I am glad of the opportunity to address the House on the topic of passports which has been raised by my good friend Senator Crowe. I thank him for raising this issue. It is a really important issue of which I am very aware from a constituency perspective, as are most Members of this House.

The passport service is currently experiencing a high level of demand for passports as citizens prepare for upcoming summer travel. Thanks to the operational and staffing plans of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the passport service is successfully responding to this demand and has issued over 440,000 passports to date this year.

Internationally, the Irish passport has a strong reputation and the passport service takes seriously its responsibility to protect the integrity of the Irish passport and the issuing process. Our passport ranks fourth in the Henley global passport index as it provides citizens visa-free access to 186 countries.

Since the introduction of passport online in 2017, adults renewing their passports are not required to submit a witnessed identity form. Online child renewal applications can be witnessed by members of many professions, including schoolteachers, doctors, elected representatives and gardaí. Only first-time adult and child passport application forms for applicants resident in Ireland are required to be witnessed by a member of An Garda Síochána. There is a really good reason for that. We have seen efforts by others for nefarious reasons to attempt to gain an Irish passport illegally.

The witnessing of these application forms is a vital element of the identity verification process as it provides initial assurance to the passport service that the person in the photograph is the same person presenting to submit the form. With applications for a minor, the witnessing of this form provides evidence that guardians have given consent for a passport to be issued to the child. To protect the rights of guardians and children, it is important that forms are correctly completed.

In December 2025, the passport service launched a new passport assist service to support citizens who do not wish to use passport online channels and assist them to make a paper passport application. When developing passport assist, the passport service engaged extensively with An Garda Síochána and provided training resources on correctly witnessing forms. Since its launch, the proportion of applications requiring Garda witnessing has decreased from 17% to 13%. When a garda does witness an application, it is the responsibility of the witnessing garda to ensure that the signature is correctly recorded in the station logbook in order that, when the passport service calls, the signature can be verified. In these cases, the passport service calls the relevant station to confirm that the garda recorded the form in the logbook. The passport service is not required to directly speak to the witnessing garda. Passport service staff call the Garda station up to three times to verify the signature. Passport applications are checked by experienced entitlement officers who endeavour to maintain up-to-date records of the opening hours of Garda stations.

Where the passport service cannot reach the Garda station after three attempts, the relevant superintendent’s office can be contacted to verify the details. If the passport service is unable to verify the witness after these steps have been taken, a new witnessed form will be requested from the applicant. The passport service is continuously looking at ways to make the application process easier for applicants, including the enhancement of digital services, and would welcome the digitisation of the records maintained by An Garda Síochána when witnessing applications. There is a general update of passport service policies under way in the context of the ongoing passport reform programme. This reform programme focuses on the future of service delivery by implementing projects that enhance the customer experience, while maintaining the integrity of the Irish passport.

I thank the Senator for his question. I am well aware of the issue. I encourage him and others in this House and elsewhere to encourage those seeking a passport and filling out the application to go to a main Garda station. There is a multiplicity of Garda stations in my constituency which only open for a number of hours of the day and there is no way in the wide world that when the Passport Office is ringing at 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock, or maybe later or even at weekends, there will be somebody there to answer. I encourage people who find themselves with a requirement to witness the application, that is, a first-time application or one that has been expired for more than five years, to go to the main Garda station in the county. That is a way to resolve the problem. However, it does not take from the very important issue the Senator has raised, which is somebody who missed a holiday who at some point had a passport that had gone out of date. Between Covid and various other things, people quite frankly have not had use for a passport. Particularly within the common travel area where Aer Lingus prior to this did not require a passport to go to the UK, and many people who did not have a passport chose to travel there with a driving licence, there is now an even greater demand. The word has to go out that people should go to a main Garda station if they are outside the normal repeat situation.

I thank the Minister of State for his excellent response. It shows he is on the ground because he knows exactly the issue that has been raised. The point I raise is that what is happening is the Passport Office is contacting the Garda station on three occasions but does not follow up with the superintendent's office and consequently there is an issue after the three calls are made. That is the feedback I am getting in Galway.

I would like to send out the message that what the Minister of State has said here this morning is to go to your main Garda station with the full-time hours that a 24-hour Garda station, which we have throughout Galway city has, and which other leading localities, whether Ennis or Limerick as the case may be, have.

I appreciate this is a very important role. Ensuring identity verification is a key point in the passport process, and naturally we all go along with that. I note the digitalisation of Garda records is a matter for An Garda Síochána, as we know, but having said that, there is a close relationship between the Department and the Garda, and it would be of considerable benefit if the Department could engage with An Garda Síochána on this to give it a suitable path forward. As I have noted, a proper system is implemented. This would seem to be a task that could be largely carried out by administrative staff, freeing up Garda resources, which would surely be a win-win situation.

I fully take on board what the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley has said this morning on sending out the message to go to a main, 24-hour Garda station. That is the point that as public representatives we need to get across.

I thank the Senator. I know he is passionate about this area, because he and I have had numerous conversations. He is working extremely hard in his constituency to try to get people over the line.

I will raise the issue, as I have done previously, with the Minister for foreign affairs in relation to who can actually sign and do the verification. I am conscious that it can be done by peace commissioners, commissioners of oaths, schoolteachers and school principals, etc. I see no reason why somebody who is elected to the Oireachtas could not be in a position to sign. For whatever might be said about us as politicians, generally, those of us who are elected have the trust of our constituents. It would be an appropriate profession to be able to sign and verify because the Senators in the House know full well that unlike gardaí and school teachers, etc., our phones can never be off. We are always in a position to be available because that is our role. The Senators here today are hard-working, constituency people. That is something that should be looked at.

The Senator might bring forward a Private Member's Bill or perhaps another Commencement matter to broaden the kind of people who can be used because while a garda plays a very important role, the role generally is just to witness. Somebody presents him or herself with a photograph and that is the individual and the garda signs to that effect. There is no reason that could not be done by a Member of the Oireachtas. That would resolve a lot of the issues that we talk about, but that is a matter for the Department. It is something the Senator could raise here at a later stage.