Mr. Tim Duggan:

The bodies are not new. The legislation has been in place since 2005. Most of the public bodies listed in the Schedule to the legislation have been also in existence since 2005. There have been a few added since but, by and large, the bulk of them have been in existence since this process started. It is important to remember that the public services card is a means of authenticating the identity of an individual seeking a service, which happens anyway. For example, to apply for or renew a passport, a person must appear in person at a Garda station and present a garda with a great deal of information, including, possibly, documentary information. The garda records the information in a ledger. If the Passport Office chooses to require a person to produce a public services card, it will be used instead of that process. The registration process will be changed such that instead of a person having to appear at a Garda station, he or she will have to produce a public services card. To get a public services card a person must engage in a face-to-face process with an officer of the Department of Social Protection, who authenticates his or her identity. It is a once in a lifetime process. A public services card establishes identity to a far greater extent and hugely conveniences the customer in that to apply for or renew a passport, he or she will never again be required to turn up at a Garda station to have his or her identity authenticated. The same applies to a driver's licence. Currently, to apply for or renew a driver's licence, a person must appear at a location operated by the Road Safety Authority and go through a process of proving identity, have his or her photograph taken and produce documents and so on. The Road Safety Authority is planning to dispense with all of that process in preference of using the public services card because the registration process used for the public services card is better than the one it operates. Again, it massively conveniences the customer in the sense that he or she will never have to go through that process again.