5 March, 2008 Mr. John Burns ‘The Sunday Times, 4 Floor, Bishop's Square, Redmond’s Hill, Dublin 2. Dear Mr Burns, refer to the request which you made under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2008 for records held by this Department. ‘You have requested the names of all TDs who submitted priority passport applications in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 and the number of such applications each made. 1am afraid that the information recorded contains personal information which is exempt from release under Section 28 of the Act. A final decision was made on your request by the undersigned. I may be contacted by telephone on 673 3046. I will seek to answer any questions you may have, and to assist you generally in this matter. In general, you might wish to be aware, as the Minister has informed the Dail, the background to the special facility for passport applications submitted through Oireachtas Members and/or their Offices is that in the mid 1990s, and at a time when there were long queues outside the Passport Office, the Department's assistance with such passport applications was put on a more structured basis. At the same time, the focus of the Passport Office remained very firmly on ensuring the entitlement of applicants to passports, and the accuracy and integrity of the issuing process. Details of the submitting Members and/or their Offices were a secondary consideration. In this regard, records of the submitting Members and/ or their Offices were recorded manually, and were primarily of use to the section in question in responding to follow-up queries. This meant that in many cases the names of contact points in particular offices were recorded rather than the actual name of the Member of the Oireachtas.‘A schedule of the manual records held by the Department are detailed at Appendix 1 ‘You may appeal this decision. However a fee applies for an appeal, with the exception of an appeal against the imposition of a fee. The level of this fee has been set at €75. In the event that you need to make such an appeal, you can do so by writing to the Freedom of Information Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs, 80 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, enclosing the appropriate fee . Payment should be made by way of bank draft, money order, postal order or personal cheque made payable to the Secretary General, Department of Foreign Affairs. ‘You should make your appeal within 4 weeks (20 working days) from the date of this notification however; the making of a late appeal may be permitted in appropriate circumstances. The appeal will involve a complete reconsideration of the matter by a more senior member of the staff of this Department. Yours sincerely, Deirdre Fannin Passport Officer,