THE OVER-65s will have to pay full passport fees from today. Up to 2005, the fee for getting or renewing a passport for those over retirement age was €25. That fee was scrapped entirely in 2005 until the decision was made in Budget 2011 to reintroduce full-price fees.

Older people’s rights groups have criticised the move, saying that it makes getting or keeping a passport too costly for a swathe of OAPs.

Maureen Kavanagh, CEO of Active Retirement Ireland, said that many of the group’s 23,000 members had been in contact in recent months to express their concerns about the reintroduction of full passport fees. She said:

Many of them feel betrayed as Fine Gael and the Labour Party – when in Opposition – had promised to prioritise the protection of older people’s rights and entitlements. Despite this rhetoric, the new Government is now withdrawing a benefit for older people which – realistically – will result in minimal cost savings to the State.

Kavanagh argues that pensioners will be deterred from renewing their passports and so the Government will not make the savings it estimates from the number who were issued with the document last year. She says:

Approximately 45,000 people aged 65 or over were issued with passports last year, so the Government believes that – by reintroducing fees – they will raise €3.6m in revenues from this cohort of the population. However, we know from our members that a fee of €80 will simply deter older people from renewing their passports, so – in effect – minimal savings are to be made.

The group suggests that a compromise could be reached as when passport fees were last paid by over-65s, in 2005, they were still less than one-third of the current fee. Kavanagh suggests a lesser fee for over-65s would be appropriate and that fees should be waived for the over-70s.

As well as the reintroduction of fees for the over-65s, the fee for applications made over the counter in the Passport Office in Dublin and Cork and through ordinary registered post has increased from today by €15 to €95. The standard fee for applying through the Passport Express service through the post office remains at €80 for over-18s.