Passports act 2008

• Act Number: 4
• Enactment Date: 26 March 2008

Number 4 of 2008
PASSPORTS ACT 2008
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART 1
Preliminary and General
Section
1. Short title and commencement.
2. Definitions.
3. Service of notices.
4. Regulations.
5. Expenses.
PART 2
Passports and Emergency Travel Certificates
6. Application for passport.
7. Information and documents to accompany application for passport.
8. Processing of personal data.
9. Periods of validity of passports.
10. Name in which passport is issued.
11. Gender re-assignment.
12. Refusal to issue passport.
13. Use of information and form of passports.
14. Passports for children.
15. Emergency travel facilities.
16. Diplomatic and official passports.
17. Procedures for lost or stolen passports.
18. Cancellation and surrender of passports.
19. Appeals.
20. Offences.
21. Meaning of “false” and “making”.
22. Summary trial of offences.
23. Proceedings relating to offences committed outside State.
24. Liability for offences by bodies corporate.
25. Amendment of Schedule to Bail Act 1997.
26. Passports to remain property of Minister.
27. Saver.
PART 3
Miscellaneous
28. Amendment of Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Provision of Services) Act 1993.
Acts Referred to
Adoption Act 1952 1952, No. 25 Adoption Act 1991 1991, No. 14 Bail Act 1997 1997, No. 16 Civil Registration Act 2004 2004, No. 3 Data Protection Act 1988 1988, No. 25 Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Provision of Services) Act 1993 1993, No. 33 Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 1964, No. 7 Intoxicating Liquor Act 2003 2003, No. 31 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 1956, No. 26 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts 1956 to 2004 Licensing Acts 1833 to 2004 Medical Practitioners Act 1978 1978, No. 4 Registration of Clubs Acts 1904 to 2004
Number 4 of 2008
PASSPORTS ACT 2008
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUE BY THE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF PASSPORTS TO IRISH CITIZENS TO BE USED BY THEM AS EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP, TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA, INCLUDING BIOMETRIC DATA, FOR THE ISSUE OF PASSPORTS AND THE MAINTENANCE OF THE INTEGRITY OF THE SYSTEM FOR ISSUING PASSPORTS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE CANCELLATION AND SURRENDER OF PASSPORTS IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, TO PROVIDE FOR OFFENCES RELATING TO PASSPORTS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUE OF EMERGENCY TRAVEL CERTIFICATES IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, TO AMEND THE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR OFFICERS (PROVISION OF SERVICES) ACT 1993 AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS.
[26th March, 2008]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART 1 Preliminary and General
	Short title and commencement.	1.— (1) This Act may be cited as the Passports Act 2008.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.
	Definitions.	2.— In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
	“ Act of 1988 ” means Data Protection Act 1988;
	“ applicant ”, in relation to an application for a passport, means the person in whose name the passport will be issued if the application is granted;
	“ automated data ” has the meaning it has in section 1(1) of the Act of 1988;
	“ biometric data ” means automated data comprising of information—
	(a) relating to distinctive physical characteristics of an individual, and
	(b) which may include measurements of such characteristics,
	that may be processed for the purpose of verifying the identity of the individual to whom the data relate;
	“certificate of birth” means—
	(a) a document issued under section 13 (4) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 in respect of an entry in the register of births,
	(b) a certified copy of an entry in the Adopted Children Register maintained under section 22 of the Adoption Act 1952 which is issued under subsection (11) of that section,
	(c) a document purporting to be a copy of an entry in a foreign births entry book or in the foreign births register, both of which are kept under section 27 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 , and which is duly authenticated as such,
	(d) a document purporting to be a copy of an entry in the Register of Foreign Adoptions issued under section 6 (7) of the Adoption Act 1991 , or
	(e) a document issued in accordance with a civil system of registration of births in the place where the birth occurs;
	“ child ” means a person who is under 18 years of age other than a person who is or has been married;
	“ data ” has the meaning it has in section 1(1) of the Act of 1988;
	“ emergency travel certificate ” shall be construed in accordance with section 15 ;
	“ guardian ”, in relation to a child, means a person who—
	(a) is a guardian of the child pursuant to the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 , or
	(b) is appointed to be a guardian of the child by—
	(i) deed or will, or
	(ii) order of a court in the State,
	and has not been removed from office;
	“ Irish citizen ” means a person who—
	(a) is an Irish citizen under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts 1956 to 2004, or
	(b) acquires Irish citizenship under those Acts or any other enactment;
	“ Minister ” means Minister for Foreign Affairs;
	“ passport ” means a passport issued, or deemed under section 27 (1) to have been issued, under this Act;
	“ passport appeals officer ” shall be construed in accordance with section 19 ;
	“personal data” has the meaning it has in section 1(1) of the Act of 1988;
	“ prescribed ” means prescribed by the Minister by regulations under section 4 ;
	“ processing ”, of or in relation to information or data, has the meaning it has in section 1(1) of the Act of 1988.
	Service of notices.	3.— Where a notice is required to be sent or given to a person under this Act, it shall be addressed to the person concerned by name and may be sent or given to him or her in one of the following ways:
	(a) by delivering it to the person;
	(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for correspondence relating to the application for the passport concerned has been provided to the Minister, at that address;
	(c) by sending it by post to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for correspondence relating to the application for the passport concerned has been provided to the Minister, to that address.
	Regulations.	4.— (1) The Minister may by regulations provide for any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.
	(2) Regulations under this Act may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.
	(3) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
	Expenses.	5.— (1) The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
	(2) The expenses incurred by the Minister for Finance in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
PART 2 Passports and Emergency Travel Certificates
	Application for passport.	6.— (1) A person who is an Irish citizen and is, subject to this Act, thereby entitled to be issued with a passport, may apply in that behalf to the Minister in accordance with this section.
	(2) An application for the issue of a passport to a person shall be—
	(a) made in such form as may be specified by the Minister for that type of passport,
	(b) accompanied by such information and documents in relation to the person as the Minister may require under section 7 , and
	(c) accompanied by the appropriate fee (if any).
	(3) An application for the issue of a passport to a child may be made on behalf of the child—
	(a) by a parent or guardian of the child,
	(b) where the application is one to which subsection (4) of section 14 applies, by the person referred to in that subsection who is authorised by an order of a court in the State to give consent to the issue of a passport to the child, or
	(c) where the application is one to which subsection (6) of section 14 applies, by a guardian of the child or any other person who has an interest in the welfare of the child.
	(4) An application for the issue of a passport to a person who is suffering from a physical or mental incapacity may be made on his or her behalf by a person duly authorised to act on his or her behalf.
	Information and documents to accompany application for passport.	7.— (1) Before issuing a passport to a person, the Minister shall be satisfied—
	(a) that the person is an Irish citizen, and
	(b) as to the identity of the person.
	(2) The Minister may require an applicant for a passport to provide such information as the Minister may require for the purposes of the application and to produce to him or her such documents as he or she considers necessary or expedient to enable him or her to perform the functions of the Minister under this Part.

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