Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the section under which people are required to present their social welfare cards in specified circumstances. Such circumstances have been legislated for but the Bill outlines further when people will be obliged to present their cards and indicates the service providers that can demand sight of them. I do not have a major difficulty with that, I am merely seeking to discover what will be involved in practice. In certain instances, An Post is the main service provider responsible for distributing payments. Recently, I have come across individuals who have social welfare cards but who do not have any other means of identification. Tús participants are required to open bank accounts but social welfare cards are not accepted by banks as a form of identification suitable to facilitate them in this regard. People are being asked to do something which should not really be required of them, particularly when one realises that An Post is, in some instances, the preferred service provider for the delivery of payments. An Post accepts social welfare cards as a means of identification from people seeking to open accounts with it but the banks do not. Work remains to be done to make these cards acceptable to all institutions.

I would welcome it if the position could be changed in order that it would no longer be a requirement for Tús participants to open bank accounts and that Pobal would be able to make payments through An Post. The necessity to open bank accounts has caused hardship in the case of one or two people who do not have either passports or driving licences. Such individuals were obliged to scurry about in an attempt to obtain some form of identification from An Garda Síochána or whomever which might prove acceptable to the banks. The banks are becoming more difficult to deal with, even when the form of identification presented is provided by An Garda Síochána.