Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 22 February 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection

Public Services Card: Discussion (Resumed)

10:30 am

Photo of John CurranJohn Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Lowry. I usually do not ask questions at this point but it might be useful for the committee to reflect back on Mr. Duggan's opening point. He said:

[I]n 2004, the then Government tasked a senior level interdepartmental group with developing a framework or standard for establishing and authenticating the identity of individuals in their engagements with the public service. That work was completed and agreed by the Government in 2005.

That is very specific. It obviously went to Cabinet and there was a decision of some sort. Further in his presentation, however, Mr. Duggan went on to say:

SAFE level 2, on the other hand, involves many factors, and we have set out the processes involved in the comprehensive guide at question No. 7. It is the combination of all those factors that makes it different and which allows identity to be verified to a substantial level of assurance. [...] As it is capable of verifying identity to a substantial level of assurance, it is now Government policy that it should be the level of identity verification required to provide high value and personalised services to people [...].

Mr. Duggan has not been as forthcoming about the steps to SAFE level 2, in other words, the policy decisions. He was very specific about the interdepartmental group in 2004 and the Government decision of 2005. However, there has been no reference to what group identified and developed the process, underpinned by what Government decisions, since 2005. I do not know if Mr. Duggan has that information with him. Although he opened very specifically, he has made no reference to any other specific decisions or policy groups tasked to develop this since 2005. Does he have a comment on that?

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