Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The personal public service number is the citizen's unique reference number for all dealings with Departments and public bodies.

In order to ensure a person receives only one number, and that the number is allocated on information that is accurate and verified, certain procedures are set down to be followed by offices of my Department when dealing with applications. It is necessary to have effective controls around the PPS No. registration process to guard against fraud and to protect the integrity of my Department's data.

Evidence of identity is a vital element of the allocation process. A PPS No. does not issue automatically, except in the case of children born in this jurisdiction. In all other cases application must be made at one of my Department's offices. In the case of persons resident outside the State, application can be made by post to the client identity services section of my Department.

When applying for a PPS No., applicants are asked to complete an application form and supply documentation to establish their identity. Once this is done satisfactorily they are usually informed of their PPS No. by post within five days. The identity documentation that applicants who are not resident in Ireland are requested to supply is a long form birth certificate. Alternatively, they can furnish a copy of their current valid passport.

My Department only asks for documents that a person is likely to have in his or her possession or may reasonably obtain. I would always be sympathetic to a person who, for reasons of age or infirmity, might have difficulty obtaining such documents. Where queries arise, staff in the client identity services section of the Department provide advice and assistance to an applicant or someone acting on his or her behalf. My officials are not aware of any specific difficulty encountered by Irish emigrants living abroad who need PPS numbers to have their names included on the housing needs list. Given the specific issues raised by the Deputy, officials from the Department will contact him with a view to obtaining further information so that they can carry out a complete investigation of these issues.

Representatives of the safe home initiative or any emigrant representative groups who wish to discuss these issues should contact the client identity services of the Department to arrange a meeting at which particular issues or difficulties they may encounter can be addressed.

See this speech in context