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

Like the majority of people in this House, I am a big supporter of the public services card. I think it has worked extremely well. More than 3 million people in this country now have a public services card, including me, and when people were asked what they think about the public services card they have, more than 80% of people were satisfied with it and prefer it to what they had before, namely, a number of different books and passes such as pension books, children's allowance books, free travel passes and the social welfare services card. The public services card has replaced all of those and given people one simple card which enables them to access public services. That is what the public services card is; it does exactly what it says on the tin. It is what it was intended to be in 1998 and in 2005 when it was introduced in legislation. It is there to assist people to access public services and to make public services more efficient to deliver. It is not primarily about fraud, but it also have benefits in terms of deterrence and reducing fraud. Its primary purpose is to make it easier for people to access the public services and benefits they are entitled to and it also makes it more efficient for Departments and agencies to provide those public services.

The reason most people support and like the public services card is that instead of having to go through the rigmarole of going to the chemist, getting passport photos, signing them on the back, going to the Garda station, getting forms signed, filling them in, finding a utility bill and having to do that every year or every couple of years when they engage with a new Government service, they only have to do that once. That is the big advantage with the public services card and that is the reason it has worked very well.

In the pension case Deputy Brady mentioned, it is worth putting on the record of the House that the Data Protection Commissioner found in favour of the Department, but it was dealt with sympathetically in any case by the Minister accepting that there was a conscientious objection.

It is not our practice to publish legal advice either from the Attorney General or from outside counsel. We will not do that but if this case goes to the Circuit Court or the High Court thereafter, the legal advice will be made public at that point, which is the normal procedure when it comes to litigation.

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