Member's statement: Irish Passports

Member's statement by Mr Philip McGuigan on 7 May 2024.

MLA

Mr Philip McGuigan

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

7 May 2024

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Irish Passports

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4487846

Read the official Assembly record

Text

In February, I raised and highlighted the need for an Irish passport office to be located in the North. I was disappointed to hear last week, in response to questions from my colleague and TD from Donegal Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, the Tánaiste respond by saying that such an office is not needed. I disagree.

There is a massive need for an Irish passport office to be located in the North. Around 20% of adult first-time passport applications are made by citizens living in the North, many of whom come from my North Antrim constituency. According to the most recent figures, over 45,000 passport applications have been made from the North in the first few months of this year. I expect that number to grow considerably as we enter the summer months. As the number of applications increases, so will the number of issues that arise and problems that occur with applications. Delays, backlogs and difficulties in obtaining information cause panic and worry for individuals and families as their travel date gets closer. It is not good enough that those Irish citizens cannot speak to someone over the counter in a local passport office to discuss their application, should a problem arise. The Tánaiste implied that a low number of issues was raised through the new MLA portal and that there was therefore no issue and no need for an office in the North, but he used figures from the first three months of this year. He will know that, historically, those months do not provide a good example. I will detail my experience. My office or I used the MLA portal on behalf of constituents nine times in the first three months of this year, but I have used it 39 times in the past five weeks. I have used it four times this morning already. If the experience of the past number of years is to be repeated, assisting constituents with passport applications by raising queries about delays on their behalf will be the greatest issue that my office will deal with every week over the summer between now and September. I am currently dealing with passport applications that were submitted at the end of January — over 14 weeks ago — but have not been processed. The delays and worries for applicants are getting bigger. Whilst I appeal to people to apply for their passport in good time, I see, every year, families and children in particular miss out on dream holidays — in my view, needlessly — over issues that could have been dealt with. I can tell the Tánaiste that I use the MLA portal, that I contact the passport office online and by phone and that I email his office, but I know that, if we had an office in the North to which applicants could go to make their applications or deal with issues as they arise, those problems would arise less often or be resolved much more quickly. The whole process would therefore be streamlined and become more efficient for everyone. I do not agree with the assessment of the Tánaiste. We need a passport office in the North, and we need it sooner rather than later.

534 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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