Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I totally accept the point about the confidence and popularity issue. As I was saying before I ran out of time, 96% of PSC holders surveyed were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the process. Almost 88% of those surveyed felt that they had access to the right level of information in respect of the SAFE-PSC process or had access to more than they needed. Some 77% understand the requirement to retain personal information and do not mind that their documents are retained.

On the other issues, only bodies specified in legislation have access to the data. The full list of specified bodies is contained in Schedule 5 to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended. It lists all Ministers, city and county councils, education and training boards, the HSE, voluntary hospitals, schools, institutes of technology, universities and a range of civil and public services bodies. The only data that are collected and verified in a SAFE 2 registration process are in the limited set of data contained in the public services identity data set, which is defined in sections 262(1) and 262(3) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. This is a person's PPS number, surname, forename, date of birth, place of birth, all former surnames, all former surnames of his or her mother, an address, nationality, photo, and signature. Only these data and elements of it are shared with specified bodies. The legislative basis for sharing these data is set out clearly in section 262(6) of the Act, which states where "a specified body has a transaction with a person, the Minister may share the person’s public service identity with the specified body to the extent necessary" for that transaction.

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