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

I do not know. What I do know is that we do not make anybody undergo the SAFE 2 authentification process. With the exception of one lady, for whom the issue was resolved soon after I came into the Department, we have never withheld a payment due to somebody not having gone through the SAFE 2 authentification process. That is not the purpose of it. It is not a control measure in the way the Deputy describes and it is certainly not coercive. There are 3.2 million people in the country who have public services cards as a result of having undergone the SAFE 2 process, yet none of them has broken legs. We did not coerce anybody and nobody is being made to do anything.

We have responded to the concerns that were raised with us by the Data Protection Commission last August. We replied in November and we await its response. I cannot tell the Deputy what the outcome will be because I will not know until the commission reverts to me.

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