Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister might provide the Deputy with the information on the way out of the Chamber. I can say categorically that in no place in this Bill are we specifying any mechanism for any service. It is entirely up to the line Minister and their Departments, through legislation, to proscribe those methods.

The last two lines of amendment No. 5 tabled by Deputies Wallace and Clare Daly are the most important: "verify their identity other than by the presentation of a public services card or access to that person’s public service identity". I remind Members that the public service identity is defined as personal public service, PPS, numbers, surnames, forenames, date of birth, place of birth, sex, all former surnames, etc. If we are to delete that public service identity or unpick it in some way, how then are we to find out who a person is? I have said this time and again and we had a very good debate in the Seanad, to be fair. Deputy Clare Daly is correct about necessary and proportionate and we have absorbed that into the Bill. However, the GDPR requires data protection and this Bill has strong regard to that. We had a very good discussion which I will not rehash, but amendment No. 5 would have the net effect of paralysing a great deal of public service delivery because we would not be able to prescribe any method of identifying anybody.

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