I will give the example of a young woman in her early 20s who applied for her first passport. She had dealt with a number of tragedies over the previous year. She applied for a passport in January and did everything right as she saw it. The documentation was returned to her in April because the Garda who authorised the form had not filled in the logbook. This was through no fault of the applicant. The documentation was sent back and the woman who was due to travel on Monday was informed as late as last Friday of th…

I ask the Tánaiste if he will give his response about the recent incursion of Israeli forces into Ramallah and his engagements with his EU counterparts in respect of holding Israel accountable for its war crimes.

The encouraging of the large Israeli military convoy into Ramallah led to at least 35 people being wounded, at least 20 of whom received their injuries from live bullets. Israeli forces were ostensibly seeking to demolish the home of a man accused of attacks in Jerusalem last year, but that practice of Israel is described as collective punishment, which is illegal under international and humanitarian law. As the Tánaiste knows, these injuries follow the killing of 112 Palestinians by Israeli forces in the West Bank…

To illustrate the difficulty the international community is in, this week members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence held an informal meeting with commissioners from the UN commission of inquiry that is looking into human rights issues in Palestine and Israel. It published reports to the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly in which it is critical of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas and the Israeli regime. The fundamental difference is that of those three the Israeli Gover…

I ask the Tánaiste if he will report on his recent engagement with representatives of the British Government, particularly his engagements in response to the inadequate amendments made to the so-called legacy Bill.

I thank the Tánaiste for that. The legacy Bill has been well debated in this House and elsewhere. There is unanimous political opposition on this island to the British Government’s proposals. It is not simply something we oppose but also something that breaches unilaterally an agreement reached between the two Governments and the political parties at Stormont House on dealing with legacy in a human rights-compliant manner. The British Government has reiterated it is planning to rush the Bill through both Houses of …

I was at Talbot Street on the anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings again this year. I commend the Justice for the Forgotten group on ensuring the story of those bombings is more clear and evident, though it is not yet fully transparent because the British Government has refused to accede to wishes expressed on a number of occasions by this House for it to release all its information. Does the Tánaiste mention that when he meets with the British Prime Minister directly? Does he challenge the British Gover…

It is not available through a telephone.

They can email but do not have telephone access.

Will the Tánaiste outline if he is willing to progress plans to open a passport office in the North?

I am very disappointed with that response. We spoke of the urgent appointment service which operates both in Dublin and in Cork. In fact, a person can get an urgent appointment service in London but not in the North of our own country. This has a particular real impact for people who are obliged to travel to either Dublin or Cork. I know that my colleague Deputy Pearse Doherty regularly speaks to me about the burden of people from his constituency in Donegal having to travel to Dublin when they need to make an appo…

On that issue, that is not the same service that was being offered to Oireachtas Members who have a phone line and there is a difference. I have used both and nothing beats actually talking to a human being sometimes when dealing with a specific case. If we use the business logic which has been prepared and put forward in the Tánaiste's response in respect of this office, then I regret to inform him that the next logical step is that somebody is going to propose closing the Passport Office in Cork. I would not supp…

Yes, and I am sure he would be aghast to hear-----

-----of such a prospect because this is more than business. It is about a service being provided to citizens. Yes, the vast bulk of people apply online, wherever they are applying from. Urgent and emergency cases and appointments are usually made by people who have previously made their application online. It is because an urgency or an emergency emerges that they need access. It is a service we operate and we acknowledge that it operates, by and large, very well. It can operate better and one of the ways in which …

In the context of the Tánaiste's conversation with the Leas-Cheann Comhairle in respect of tangible things the Irish Government can do to support the Palestinian people as they face Israeli aggression and apartheid, one of the practical things the Government could do is to enact the agreed position of this House and to recognise the state of Palestine. Will the Tánaiste give the House a timeframe as to when he intends to do that?

The difficulty and reality, which I think the Tánaiste acknowledged in his earlier remarks, is that Israeli actions in breaching international law, engaging in an apartheid regime and committing war crimes are becoming more blatant and glaring by the day. I think he also acknowledged that the EU, because of the position some of the governments, to their shame, have taken in respect of Israel in particular, will not take defining action or the level of action required to in any way put pressure on Israel to change t…

My fear is that the longer we delay these types of measures, the less likely it is that there will be a Palestinian state in a two-state solution to actually recognise. I welcome that the Tánaiste indicated the Government will make a submission to the International Court of Justice about the clarification it is preparing in respect of the commission I referenced earlier. Will that submission underline the opinion of this House, as agreed in resolution, I think, last year, that Israel is in fact engaging in the anne…

I will waive it.

Will the Minister go out and meet the protesters?

Will the Minister meet them outside?