The combination of these changes means applicants will get passports quicker, within a guaranteed turn-around time and at a lower cost than the current equivalent or over-the-counter process at the Passport Office.

“Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett, along with other members of the Technical Group, has been hugely irresponsible in encouraging vulnerable householders not to pay the €100 household charge. As a result, these householders have had to pay a staggering €6.75 million in penalties.

Mr Keating said a major problem had arisen in Clondalkin and Lucan in his Dublin Mid-West constituency, and in other urban communities, relating to wild horses.