Laois TD Brian Stanley has called upon Taoiseach Micheal Martin to intervene in the ‘chaos with digital Covid Passports’.
According to the Sinn Fein Deputy, he has received numerous complaints from constituents who have not received their certs yet.
These people, Mr Stanley says, cannot get through to the helpline either.
He said: “There are numerous complaints with the Digital Covid Passport System from constituents. One constituent, who was vaccinated April 20 has yet to receive his certificate.
“The Helpline numbers 1800 851 504 and 1800 807 008 cannot deal with the volume of calls they are receiving.
“People have informed us they have been waiting on the line for up to 4 hours and still not getting to speak to anyone.
“Constituents who are due to travel abroad within the next few days don’t know if they can take their holiday or travel to visit relatives abroad because they may not receive their certificate on time.
“People who have arranged indoor family events like Christenings and parties are also in a predicament due to the fact that the certificate will be needed to enter pubs and restaurants. Nobody is taking responsibility for this chaos and the Government Departments are all passing the book.
“I wrote to the Taoiseach today to ask him to intervene and sort out the mess that is going on.
“This was meant to be a smooth process. People were meant to receive their certificate after their second vaccination.”
Mr Stanley has also contacted two government ministers on the issue and is awaiting a reply.
He said: “We contacted Ossian Smyth, Minister of State who has responsibility for this process. We also contacted the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and we are awaiting reply from both Ministers.
“It was reported extra staff have been employed to man the helplines and deal with this backlog.
“Government need to designate one Minister in particular to take responsibility immediately and sort out this mess.’’
