Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is no different. The quasi-judicial rules and legislation that underpin the Data Protection Commissioner's office are exactly the same. I am not sure what the purpose of the Deputy's questions was. The Government legislation that has underpinned practice in this area for the past 20 years dates back to 1998 when it was introduced by the then Minister, Dermot Ahern. It was amended in 2005 by the Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government and again in 2011 and 2013 by the Department under a Fine Gael and Labour Party Government. This is not a case where the Deputy is good and I am bad. To return to the foundations of this process, the purpose of the card was to ensure that people who wanted to do business with the State in an efficient manner could do so. There is no bogeyman waiting to catch anybody out. As the Deputy said a number of times, people like this card. They like being able to deal with agencies of the State in an efficient manner and are doing so in their millions. People who do not want to identify themselves through our SAFE 2 registration process do not have to. There are other ways to access State services.