Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was involved in introducing the card. As long as it is a convenience, I have nothing against the card. Some comment has been a little bit over the top.

There are two comments I would make. One is on the design of the card. I have to say the writing on it, for example, the PPS number, is very small for older people. It is much better on the medical card where it is much bigger. It is a small, but important, point because this is used commonly by older people accessing services.

The second issue is more germane. Zealot approaches cause chaos. What I mean by a "zealot approach" is this. I had a case of somebody who wanted to get a driver's licence. He could not get the driver's licence because he did not have a card and could not get the card because he did not have a driver's licence and did not have a passport. Social welfare took a practical view and issued the card on reasonable evidence of an out-of-date licence. The point that seems to have arisen is that it is being demanded as an absolute, only way of identifying oneself whereas, in my view, and I ask the Minister to consider this, in most cases one would have to produce suitable evidence of one's identity which would include a passport, a card or other suitable identification because the people who likely do not have it are older people who are well settled in the community and who are easily identified. If, however, the Department states one must have the card the most likely person to get trapped is somebody who is known to everybody but the rule states the person has to have the card and he or she gets caught, literally, in a vicious circle. Could the Minister deal with that issue?

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