Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The report sets out the background and this goes back to the 1990s. We had legislation in 2005 and there was a Government decision in 2013, which had implications. The annual reports repeatedly pointed out concerns, though Ms Dixon's predecessor accepted that there might be some justification for a requirement for a card, or something similar, for social welfare purposes. The commission did not object to this but teased the issues out to see what the implications were. Each year, the implications became much more serious and this was all conveyed to the Department, one way or another.