Mr. Muiris O'Connor:

They are intimately connected. There is an identity management service being built up within the HSE and it has used PPS number to generate a register of IHI numbers. We recognise that, in the context of interactions with the public, people are comfortable with PPS numbers. It is one of the few numbers people actually know and it is in the interest of patient safety that we switch the primary identifier away from the IHI to the PPS number, while building on all the investment that has been done on identity management. That stands to us because the PPS number is in there.