Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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When a person presents a public services card at a swipe point, whether on a bus or train, the card chip contains a number with no name or address attached. The transport company can pass the information through the NTA back to the Department that the following numbers have made the following trips. The Department then knows the usage rate on the free travel card. Only the Department has the detail regarding to whom that number relates. That does not go to the NTA or any of the transport companies. That data is held by the Department. It led to the correspondence that we read here last week stating that, in essence, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection can have details of the 950,000 people who have a public services card and may use it for free travel and what journeys they took. The Department has that information. This will be useful for today. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is coming in separately.