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

It is not mandatory or compulsory for anybody in the State to have a public services card. It is not mandatory or compulsory for one person to have a card.

It has, however, always been necessary for people using high-value or personalised public services, which are now considered to be online public services, to be able to prove their identity. In order to ensure that services are provided to the right person and to support efficient service delivery, a growing number of public service providers, including my Department, require that proof of identity is underpinned by the SAFE 2 identity verification standard. This standard verifies identity to a substantial level of assurance and is the most robust identity verification in Ireland today. The requirement for this level of identity verification is provided for at section 247C of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended, in respect of customers of my Department.

The Department needs to verify the identity of customers to a substantial level of assurance to ensure that they are who they claim to be, to ensure that they are not being impersonated by anybody else, to ensure that they are not claiming services or payment in another identity and to minimise the need for them to prove their identity over and over again when they interact with other parts of government or service providers. This verification also provides the customer with access to an increasing range of online public services without he or she having to physically go and provide paperwork to show his or her proof of identity.

For the most part, the SAFE 2 registration process is very easy and straightforward and simply verifies the identity information the public service already has for a person. It is a different level of identity verification than SAFE 1, the level at which some of the documents referred to by Deputy Joan Collins were administered and issued. At the end of the process, if a person wants a public services card, we will print it and send it in the post. If, however, he or she does not want a card, nobody will make him or her have it.

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