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

I suppose it is a case of be careful what you tweet because it comes back to haunt you. The tweet still stands. We do not collect biometric data. We collect and store photographs. If someone has a public services card, they come in and get their photograph taken, we store that photograph and it gets put on the person's card. It is as benign as that. The facial recognition technology we currently employ and have been using for years has been enhanced considerably, as technology has been enhanced during the six years since we bought it. Most versions in existence today have much improved matching capability, accuracy and speed compared to the software we currently use. We are not changing the process we use or the legislation governing that process. All we are doing is upgrading the software we use in the SAFE 2 registration process. The main objective of this procurement is to upgrade the algorithm we employ and to ensure that when a public services card needs to be renewed or replaced, it can be undertaken securely to prevent any error in the allocation. A further and important by-product of its ability is to detect any instances of potential identity or suspected social welfare fraud. Literally, that is all this tender is. It is just about upgrading the software we currently use, which is six years old.

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