Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a certain narrative at the moment that this is some sort of Fine Gael, Big Brother-style police state conspiracy. It is not, because Fine Gael has only had control of that Department for approximately three years. The public services card was an all-party effort and debates in the past show that all parties were very much in favour of it.

The concept of the public services card was first launched in 1998. It does exactly what it says on the tin - it is a public services card. It is not only for social welfare services but for public services in general. It is absolutely not an identification card. It is prohibited in law for the gardaí to ask somebody to produce it. The whole point of a national identification card is that police can ask one for it. That has been prohibited in law and neither the Garda nor any private sector body cannot ask for it. The law contains a schedule of the exact public sector bodies that can ask for and use the card.

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