Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the public services card, PSC, is to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and less duplication of having to give the same information to a variety of different public bodies, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible.

The purpose of SAFE 2 registration, as underpinned by legislation, is to verify the person's identity to a substantial level of assurance. Once identity is verified, a public services card can be issued. My Department makes it clear to our customers that they need to complete the SAFE 2 registration to access, or continue to access, payments and entitlements. This is not an unreasonable condition given the value of payments made to customers and the overwhelming majority of customers have no difficulty in completing the process. As of yesterday, we were at 2.87 million.

As I explained to Deputy Curran's colleague earlier in regard to a similar question, my Department and I have no plans to introduce any changes to the PSC other than those proposed in the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 which will be before the House this evening.

To completely dispel the view of some people, the PSC is not a national ID card as it does not bear any of the characteristics of one. It is not necessary for a person to carry it or have it on him or her. One can stick it in a drawer at home. If a person does not need to use it again, that is entirely up to him or her. It cannot be demanded by the Garda. In fact, if gardaí asked for it today, they would be committing an offence under the Act we passed here in 2013.

Furthermore, it cannot be requested by any body or person not named specifically as a body in Schedule 5 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended. It can only be used by those specified in the legislation in the context of conducting a public transaction with the person concerned. Therefore, the legislation narrows its application considerably and proves that the intent of the card is, as it always was, just to access public services.

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