Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. He is right that the public services card has been a fantastic success in many ways, including in simplifying use of free travel etc. and not just in terms of fraud. It has been very good and is best practice. It was initiated by our predecessors in 2005 and I acknowledge the interdepartmental work done in the very early stages.

The Deputy talks about tweaking it for the exceptions. As he will understand, there are about 1.6 million public services cards in operation. I will confirm that figure with him at another time. In many ways, we have tweaked the system. When a person who receives an invitation to attend a public services card registration meeting is unable to do so due to illness or disability, we settle that and leave it for 12 months for people to recover and their benefits continue. We are looking at other areas such as people with intellectual disabilities and how we can deal with them in a caring manner. We are reviewing how we will deal with our clients in that manner and considering the best practice and process.

The Deputy referred in particular to child benefit. It is a social welfare payment the same as all the others and there is a necessity to ensure that the people claiming it are who they say they are. There needs to be a robust system to ensure we are paying child benefit to those who are eligible for it. I take on board the Deputy's point about tweaking it. If he would like to bring the individual case to my attention I would be happy to deal with it personally.

We have tweaked the system and are continuously doing so. For certain people with illnesses or disabilities who want the public services card, if requested we can now go out and do the meeting in their own homes. The flexibility is being built into the system. We are improving it all the time and I certainly take on board the case the Deputy has pointed out today.

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