Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 13 February 2018
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Our Public Service 2020: Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
2:10 pm
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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No, not in the terms of the provision of public services. Where it has come up is in the duplication of providing information. While it is not the key issue, it is up there near the top in terms of citizens asking why they have to provide all their information, for example, for a SUSI application when the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has it already. That is a matter in respect of which the public services card will play a role. The step beforehand, when getting the card and the standard authentication framework environment, SAFE, registration, allows one to establish a single digital identity. We will get to a point that for a growing number of public services, a person will only need to provide his or her identity once. When that happens, it will be a breakthrough moment in how we respond back to citizens.