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TDS HAVE SAID their offices have been inundated with requests for passports due to the summer backlog at the Passport Office.
Last month, TheJournal.ie revealed that politicians had made nearly 5,000 representations to the Passport Office on behalf of their constituents over the last two years.
TDs can make representations to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Passport Office on behalf of distressed constituents whose passport applications are taking longer than expected.
The Department of Foreign Affairs currently has a dedicated channel of communication for politicians and the Passport Office and is the dedicated point of contact for all representatives.
The information released to TheJournal.ie under the Freedom of Information Act, shows that six TDs have made between 100 to 200 representations in the last two years.
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan made the most representations, totalling 196.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said recently that he does not think the offices of TDs and senators should be turned into passport processing offices.
Peak season
The Passport Office is currently in its peak season for passport demand due to the summer holidays, with added pressure being heaped on staff due to the increase in applications due to Brexit.
There has been a record number of Irish passports issued in the first five months of this year, amounting to 500,000.
However, the minister said plans are in place to reduce the wait times and streamline the service over the next year.
A number of deputies, including Sinn Féin’s Seán Crowe and Brian Stanley, recently raised concerns about the passport application process.
Crowe said his office and that of other TDs “have been inundated with requests from constituents regarding the current delays in getting passports”.
The minister said he is aware that the delays that have arisen this year have translated into “political requests”.
“Virtually every member of this House has been asked to solve individual problems for families and constituents. That is a really ineffective way of dealing with tens of thousands of passports each week,” he said.
Useful in emergencies
While there has been suggestions in the past to scrap the scheme in which politicians can intervene in the passport process, Coveney said the system can be “useful for deputies to be able to assist in emergency situations”.
However, he added:
I do not think their offices should be turned into passport processing offices. We are trying to put in place a system to deal with these matters in a much more efficient way…It should also be possible to deal with emergency situations quickly without stalling the processing of the passport applications of everybody else
The minister said his department has put systems in place that deal more comprehensively with people’s concerns, adding that he believes “considerable improvement” will be seen when it becomes possible to apply for child passports online.
Currently, when a number of family members are renewing passports, the adult passports are delayed because of the security checks required for child passports.
“We are assessing at the moment. We are learning lessons from what has happened this year,” he said.
He said the online passport application service, which was launched last year, should make a major contribution to the effective management of the exceptionally high volumes.
Expansion of online services to help
The minister said he expects the online service will be available for renewing children’s applications by the end of the year and encouraged all applicants wherever possible to renew their passports using the online renewal service.
Coveney acknowledged that the service “has not been what we would like it to be for the past number of weeks” but he said the staff at the Passport Office have been doing a “heroic job given the extraordinary volumes with which they have had to deal”.
The department is currently reviewing how the peak period is being managed this year to ensure lessons are learnt for next year.
The issue has featured prominently on radio programmes such as RTÉ’s Joe Duffy this summer, where unsatisfied and worried travellers have called the phone line to complain about the delays and lack of information.
Crowe told the Dáil that while he understood there were huge demands on the office, the communication channel with its customers appears to be broken.
When someone goes online to look for information, it does not tell them that there is a delay in the system. If someone goes on Twitter, they do not get an answer. People are telling me that when they ring the Passport Service, they are not getting through or are not getting information. If they email it, they do not get information. There is a problem there with regard to up-to-date information so that needs to be resolved.
Coveney agreed that “better communication is the key”
“I am conscious that there are many repeat phone calls from people who are desperate to talk to somebody to get some certainty in advance of their holidays, business travel or emergency travel situations. We are looking at communications with a view to giving people the ability to get an update on the status of their passport applications within the system without having contact politicians to get that information,” said the minister.
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BAM should never be given another contract ever again.
Cowboys.
@Gerard Carey: I think they have that new bridge from Down to Louth coming up
@Gerard Carey: it was never going to be 650 million, if Casement park is going to cost 500 million for a few stands around 3acres of grass. The rugby ball shape of the hospital was a bad design. Curves add a hell of lot in extra costs and waste space.
@Gerard Carey: but the party who mismanaged it can freely avoid criticism? If it was any other party they’d never recover for this mass misspend
@P. V. Aglue: the hospital started long before the casement park issue. Casement park is 500m because they saw what one could get away with when looking at the hospital. Burn Khalifa approx 1.5 b. That should be the mark.
@Oh Mammy: *Burj
@Gerard Carey: I agree .but from day one . How come no bill of quantities ect ect along with the drawings all put together in a tender package and sent to contractors in the EU. .like u build a new block of 50 houses / appartments ect. A factory , a shopping centre and a bill of quantity is provided by the QS to go with the drawings at tender process and then every contractor is pricing on the same bill of Quantity.. don’t forget broadband contract, and the bike shed. And certain people now director’s of certain companies
@P. V. Aglue: Agreed that it was never going to be but a stipulation that the cost should be no more than, e.g., twice that agreed should have been in place is a no-brainier.
To allow a provider free rein to take as long and charge as much as they like for a central requirement of health policy is beyond lax and flies in the face of standard procurement procedures. To be playing the concerned card by govt now is a joke.
@Teetotal4now: Also, for government to theoretically allow contracts to those who have previously not delivered is separate to and distinct from actually awarding the contract to that provider.
Complete fudge by Martin.
@P. V. Aglue: But uit was BAM that quoted €650 million.
@Christopher Fealy: they put the tender out without the final design and fit-out requirements , which meant whom ever got the contract had a blank cheque. Also if Bam or any other contractor fails to win a government contract, under the EU rules of procurement they can challenge the awarding of the tender in court. Simple fact should be, if contractor ‘A’ is doing a project for the government, and a new contract is up for tender, rules should state if the first project, will over lap the start of the second contract, then contractor ‘A’ must be excused for the tender process, it may get projects done in the agreed time frame
@Gerard Carey: The leaders of this country made the shocking decision to build this hospital in Dublin city rather than a green field site somewhere off the M50 and they were badly represented when negotiating the cost (I’d love to play poker with the cabinet, I’d be rich I tells ye) and people are alarmed that supposedly experienced politicians from the ruling FF @ FG got rode by a private company.
@Shaun Gallagher: Lol. It says that in the article. They were also awarded the contract to develop Waterford city Quays in 2022. It’s crazy. I understand these things have to go out to tender but surely you can then pick who you want. Otherwise we are just in a never ending loop where BAM, one construction company give a lowball figure for a large project, take it so far so there is no turning back and keep jacking up the cost as they go. It’s like writing them a blank cheque and they seem willing to maximise it to the hilt. Now we are being told we have to keep selecting them for projects. Rules at EU level need to change on this fast. That said I see the build of a hospital in Dunedin in New Zealand has run into a similar fiasco so construction companies are at it worldwide coupled with civil service incompetence.
This is a strange move from the government. They’ve never been so aggressively appalled by the children’s hospital before. It’s all been “oh but it’ll be worth it in the end” commentary from them….. A massive coincidence of course that they spent €350,000 on a bike shed and got found out merely a couple of weeks ago. Champion deflecting.
@Bryan: Champion deflecting alright. But don’t forget there’s a general election on the horizon. They’ve got to try to make out like they’re holding BAM accountable! Too little, too late.
@Bryan: The government weren’t involved in the 350k spend on the bike shed. They also didn’t manage the children’s hospital build project
@Mick Duvanny: I’m sorry but if public money is being spent it’s being spent by the government. You may need to look up a bit but the accountability will fall at the feet of the government.
@Bryan: More words. These lads are experts at words. The government knew about BAM’s habit about not paying their sub-contractors during their Courthouse contracts before they were given this contract and did nothing. They knew about BAM’s behaviour with Cork’s ‘Event Centre’ which is exactly the same as what they’re doing with the Children’s hospital but instead of throwing tax-payers money at them they downgraded the Event Centre to apartments…and continued to give them contracts.
@Mick Duvanny: So no member of government signs the cheques for these projects. Do you pay for things you’re not involved in Mick? I have to admit if I was paying for something, I’d insist I was involved in it.
@Anthony Curran: they should be holding the board to account
This is sheer lunacy.. On one hand you have the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and government minister admitting openly and in the Dail as a matter of public record, that a company is holding the state to ransom to the tune of 100s of million if not billions of euro but on the other hand it’s not ‘ appropriate’ for them to get involved in the awarding of STATE contracts.. ffs this shower need to sling their hook.. thats BAM and FFG .. what an absolute shambles of a government.
@Brian: if the government especially ministers are involved, you will claim they are lining their mates pockets.
After the fiasco with the Cork Opera house,they should have been banned for life. Also other EU countries consider past performance so it’s just am excuse to blame EU. I know of a builder who abandoned an estate and left local council to clean up the mess only to take up a new contract building houses for the same council
@KL M: And the convention centre .. they’ll get it built eventually.. but a decade and millions over budget. Talk about cowboy builders.. https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/construction-crews-seen-working-cork-29308285
Lebanon death toll rises to 492 in Israeli strikes, including 35 children.
Should read
Lebanon murder toll rises to 492 in Israeli strikes, including 35 children.
@Be Lucky: I’m sure the Isreali government/IDF would be heartbroken if that death toll were to include Irish peacekeeping forces at some stage.. they hold us in such high regard..
@Be Lucky: They can just murder as many civilians as they like and absolutely nothing done about it, no sanctions, just condemnation which does phuck all.
@Be Lucky: These modern day nazi murderers should be barred from every trade agreement from now on. Sickening.
@Larry Betts: Hamas and Hezbollah are indeed the modern day Nazi.
@Alex: Google what the word Nazi means.
@Ciaran O Donoghue: Hamas and Hezbollah are modern day Nazis
@Pat Hazzard: Isreal are commiting genocide..They are now a terrorist state commiting terrorist acts. You supportqq far right extrimists like Smotrich and Ben-Givr headed by the war monger Netheyatu on their blood thirsty rampage.. even your own dear leader can see that ‘ Pat ‘.
@Ciaran O Donoghue: Absolutely. Just because Hezbollah has fired over 8,000 rockets into Israel since October 7th, what gives Israel the right to respond like that.
@Sean Griffin: Iron dome. Also, there’s rules of warfare.
@Sean Griffin: israel was created by driving the Palestinian off their land by terrorism.
israel was created by terrorists.
israel has continued to terroriser that entire region since.
Justice demands that israel ceases to be, that Palestine is restored to the Palestinian and that the israeli is held accountable for their crimes against humanity.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: do your research, there has always be at least 43 (yes 43) Jewish villages in that region. Having the Jewish people there only became an issuse after the creation of the state of Israel, the two state solution was agreed twice in the history of that region and both times the Palestinian ‘leaders’ pulled out. Look at Yasser Aaraf and the millions he hid from his people, the 1993 olso accords, Israel agreed to pay the vat of purchases by Palestinians to Palestine , that money went directly in Yassers bank account. He also funded serveral militant gruops, while publicly stateing Israel has the right to exist. While we cant condone the response from Israel, but when you neighbours are not interested in peace, you end up with the mess we have today
@Be Lucky:
HAMAS need to do the decent think and surrender in order to stop the death of civilians.
Like our guys did in 1916.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere:
Jordan is a occupier of Palistine land maybe they should hand it back.
@Ciaran O Donoghue: Disney land!!
Does this man ever stop talking and actually do something
And if it was any other party that spent over 2 billion for one hospital there would be uproar from all others and they’d never recover
@9QRixo8H: remember Labour in government with ff. We didn’t like the actions of that government and punished Labour at the next elections and Flicking Failures sailed on with no lessons learned and the We did the same with the greens. We the voters don’t learn and still vote the same people in time and time again. Those tds who will have stepped aside next time are doing so to give the electorate a chance to continue voting the parties under the impression it’s a new td but they will act the same way. We never learn and are gullible for ever believing the stom they peddle and we’re afraid of change no matter the consequences.
@Spanner: Is it any wonder they treat us like dopes
@Spanner: Labour decided that they wanted to punish the poorer parts of society and the most vulnerable in the most vicious way.
They deserved to be savaged.
They should never get another vote from the people ever again.
@Shaun Gallagher:
Stop asking him questions and let him get on with it.
@Spanner: it’s beyond time but I fear the bogie man that is the opposition looms large so people won’t give them a chance.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: that’s not in doubt it was a shocking thing for a party who claims to represent the ordinary guy but we punished the smaller parties while the other 2 dtrundle along. They (ffg) need to know that people have had enough of waste, spin, broken promises and all their other shenanigans
Price could rise to 3 million and still you’ll read “FG surge in the polls”.
It feels like there is no hope.
@GoodBrother: there is hope for our democracy as SF/IRA continue their downward spiral
@Pat Hazzard: Hope for our democracy?
So you believe that FFG have not been democratic, but might someday be?
I seem to remember BAM have been awarded the contract for new rail between cork city and Middletown? I can’t remember the details of the actual track work but I wondered how this happened with the debacle unfolding in the Children’s Hospital. No joined up thinking yet again.
@P M: civil service/ NHS incompetence, making design changes after the contract award is a major factor in the cost overrun. This is underlined by the court’s recommendation in the ongoing litigation. In any building project you need to freeze any design changes before construction begins if you want to control costs.
Simon Harris was health minister in 2019 when the national children’s hospital contract was signed, he then brought down last Gov when caught trying to hide the huge increase in costs. But as per the FG way, these failures are rewarded instead of punished and Simon becomes leader after Leo runs away.
@Michale Kane: And now running around like tarzan trying to find jane.
@Michale Kane:
Simon & Leo – two absolute wimps both useless as ministers and leaders.
And these less than adequate politicians have let them do so….. bring on the election so we can vote them back into power…. to define stu p1d1ty perfectly…… a century of it to be precise.
@Brian Keelty: you should in the elections
They should have an investigation into this. It might cost a few hundred million but be so worth it.
And maybe start recruiting for the investigation into the mishandling of the 13 billion euro that will also inevitably happen.
Can’t wait to see how much the “60 million” cross border bridge comes in at.
@David E: At this stage, I’d give the contract to Lyle Lanley before I’d give it to BAM.
The children’s hospital should have been built in Blanchardstown, on a greenfield site, that’s accessible by parents travelling from all over the country. Would have been finished by now at a fraction of the cost.
@Treasa Kerrigan:
How do you know
There should be a fast tracked high level audit of the current state of progress and expenditure of the NCH project.
If the audit shows evidence of corruption then they should begin to investigate immediately while there is evidence to gather, while there is people directly involved present to interview, instead of a half baked, pointless, toothless inquiry 10 years from now when all of the damage is done.
The government have continuously proved that they don’t care a jot about the well-being of the regular worker, therefore they don’t care when the hospital actually opens, they don’t care if it was built in the wrong location, they don’t care that even if it opens in ’26 and is so mismanaged from lack of staff, beds etc that it is only semi functional for years to come – They only care about creating projects that gives them reason them to spread around taxpayers wealth, that’s how they grease the wheels, that’s where the backhanders and the favours come from, that’s how they, TD’s, get their hands on the money, it’s taken from revenue and then “laundered” through public spending system until some of it ends up back with the TD in the form of directorships,high end positions, gifts and favours.
The next big expenditure con job will be massively increased spending on defence, global conflicts will be used to brainwash us into thinking it’s money well spent,
huge sums of taxpayers will be channeled into it, there will likely be billions pumped into it and we will still have a DOD that could be expunged in a week. Meanwhile back in the real world housing crisis, health crisis et al will still be there, still making our lives miserable and still needing billions more to fix. Go figure.
Wham, BAM, thank you Mam.
.
Till the next time that is.
@Tom: Mam says there will be no next time.
All deflection, Tender Evaluation Process is widely used & they know this, even some of the Local Authorities use it & as for the concern around the EU Procurement Regs, more deflection. These guys are clever, they have thrown it all over on BAM knowing that it will all end up in the Courts & Arbitration & take years to resolve. By that time these guys will be out the door on their mega pensions telling us they can’t comment as they are “private citizens”. The FF crooks that retired after the crash used that line. History will show that Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris, Micheal Martin, Eamon Ryan, Roderic O Gorman, Stephen Donnelly, Robert Watt, Bernard Gloster, John Cole & Fiona Ross, this mess happened on their watch. The scandal is now making world wide headlines, a failed State.
Wham BAM what a sham it’s never ending children have grown up waiting on this hospital.
@Phillip Smyth: children have grown up in the hope the government would fulfill their promises and relieve them of the multiple treatable disabilities, illnesses and assorted physical and mental health disorders that are ruining their and their families lives. We’re about to bring Palestinian children here to rightfully assist in improving their treatment but we haven’t done much to improve the lot of our own children. Given the treatment our government have shown its citizens with broken promises its not surprising the level of anger is so high in the country. Voting them out will send the best message and will beat protests everytime. It’s the only thing they fear.
@Spanner: get elected, then you can sort out BAM, easy , especially silly as you already know all the answws
@Peter Byrne:Get elected! That’s your go to thing off late @ Peter Byrne. Please stop being a silly sausage peter..
@Peter Byrne: I’ve no desire to run for election but thanks for your suggestion. I merely pointed out the broken promises made to the nations children by the current crop of politicians around camhs and scoliosis to name a few. I have no idea what can fix it but clearly the politicians don’t and neither to the permanent government and rather than admit their failings they continue with the promises that ring hollow.
Zero accountability, keep spending the tax payers money. Lessons will be learned !
Keep the bike sheds coming
Same old same old shite, Inappropriate for the government to interfere, it’s was European rules , It’s Bams fault , We followed expert advice on where yo build it, The ffg shower of entitled wasters have trotted out the same excuses time after time and still a percentage of irsh citizens keep voting for them
It suits the weevils in government to place the blame for the overruns but the fact is, that BAM were working from incomplete drawings in the first place, and secondly, hardly a week went by but FFG kept on changing stuff that was already built. That costs money. Blame FFG, they are the real culprits here.
@donal finn:
Bam not putting enough men on site is a major reason for the delays and cost overruns
@donal finn: doubt it was FFG changing specs. But highly probable it was HSE and the specialists/surgeons, without any regard to a cost/benefit analysis. Sure it’s not our money so Spend Spend Spend
any normal country the government would have resigned over this kind of shambles.
@Niall English:
German government did not resign over Berlins new airport.
British goverinment did not resign over Manchesters Children’s hospital.
There is an attitude among those awarded contracts that the government will pay anything. The children’s hospital is at one end of the trough, and at the other is the bike shed.
Our own children need to be treated, as I said children have grown out of children with illnesses they are the future of this country we must show our contempt for this failure with dialogue elected ministers need to listen it’s Billy to Jack governing.
So any Joe soap applying for a job needs past employment references and character references but applying for multi million euro contracts doesn’t. Shows in whose favour rules are written!!!!
The cost of building this hospital is only part of the problem. It was planned and designed wrong, built in the wrong place by the wrong builder while being overseen by the wrong people. When built and in operation all these factors are going to come back to bite these clowns. James Street is a car park most of the time but that a side issue. The fact that we will actually end up with less beds than we have at present means that the hospital is over crowded before it even opens. No matter what way ye spin this it is a massive embarrassment to us and really has spotlighted the incompetence and corruption within our government offices. The fact that it has been allowed continue is mind blowing. There seems to be absolutely nothing BAMM can do to breach this contract. Why?
Same old story. When harris is gone, same rubbish from the next taoiseach
@Hector turtlehead: maye you Hextor can be our next Taoiseach
@Peter Byrne: Peter lickarse fffg lover Byrne. We know already,peter. Vote awwwayyyyyyy yyyyyyyy……
@Peter Byrne: I would, but I don’t have friends who get government contracts that can lobby, support and finance my election campaign and costs for nothing at all in return.
I think BAM should be called bollocks and merciless as they are screwing us
Didn’t Harris sign off on this BAM deal?. If so, why is he spouting his usual rubbish?.BAM have gouged this country for years but even though they are a bunch of absolute cowboys they still get gov contracts. Until you can sack public servants for gross incompetence then nothing will ever change
WHERES SLEVIN
@William Slevin: My comments didn’t get deleted what are you talking about?
@William Slevin: Who me?
@William Slevin: Yep
@William Slevin: I’m not reading all that. Slava Ukraine
@William Slevin: So you are Honey Badger. Knew it.
@William Slevin: 30 mins I silenced you for. That’s a record. Tell me more about this legal action you’re taking against me ya fruit loop
“1 million useless lessons never really learned” for dummies will easily recoup this money they’ve thrown away
So was this hospital build package put out to tender/bid or just given these Bam Bums on day work.
I wonder what politicians they are donating to ?
There should be a requirement of a bond provided with the tender/bid
Yes, there’s always gonna be some extras but not four or five times the cost of the estimated build. If the winner of the tender can’t complete, that’s where the bond company comes in.
Not sure we will ever find out unless full disclosure of all correspondence. BAM seem to be getting all the blame but it seems the spin machine is in full swing. Is BAM working off final plans? If not then why not? Full blame has to be with the government and not let them use BAM as a scapegoat. Obviously contracts are flimsy and are not watertight.
Kick bam out.
The goverment surely had a project manager in the childrens hospital to see things were done right.
Some mention of 24000 changes to plan ! That’s some amount of changes/ exrtas
BAM are a private company. The problem with the NCH does not lie with BAM. It rightly should lie with the client who never gave a proper brief for the project and designed it as they went along!!! Pure and simple facts!!! It would never have happened if a private hospital had developed it because the design would have been “set in stone” to avoid exactly the problems which have happened with this project!!!!
I just know sf are to blame
Don’t pay them, sack them all, call in a new company, have them finish it at a fraction of the cost. What are they going to do? And remove their licence to operate in Ireland ever again. Simple fix.
Meehole Martin is simply parading his ignorance of procurement law as a deflection from the simple fact that the planning, procurement and contract management of the NCH is a shambles. How can “past performance “ be measured? Which contracts will be looked at? Who will review them? How long would it take to review the past performance of a construction contractor? Does the review take place before, during or after the tender issues? What objective criteria would apply? Meehole!
They followed the same rules as the bike shed…..
500 million to do up Casement park. Are Shin Fein and Their mates in the DUP having a laughs
@H Woo: I think you will find that the dup had no interest in spending any money on casement.
You would know that if you were Irish
have your say