Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 30:

In page 14, after line 7, to insert the following:“10. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection shall, within one month of the enactment of this Act, consult with the Joint Committee for Employment Affairs and Social Protection with the intention of attending a meeting of that committee and providing a briefing in relation to the Public Services Card and any actions his or her department is undertaking in response to the Data Protection Commission’s investigation report into the Public Services Card.”.

While amendments Nos. 27 to 29, inclusive, were ruled out of order, it is my intention to revisit the phrasing of those amendments and to return to those issues on Report Stage. Those amendments also relate to the public services card, which is the core of amendment No. 30.

We have debated the concerns on the public services card on a number of occasions since 2017. I have been told during previous debates that there are no such concerns and I know the Minister still holds the view that the concerns and the recommendations of the Data Protection Commissioner do not necessarily need to be acted upon. My view is that we must take the recommendations of an independent body that is not only the independent regulator of our actions in this State but that plays a very significant role in the standards of data protection in Europe and in our international reputation as one of the key regulators and key actors in this area across Europe.

Most people have taken the concerns very seriously and I know that concern has been expressed by all parties on it. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection will be aware the Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection began an examination of the public services card a number of months ago. That examination was suspended pending the publication of the Data Protection Commissioner's report. Now that the report has been published, the findings of the Data Protection Commissioner, which have a real and serious legal status, have intensified the concern of the committee. I am tabling this amendment to require the Minister to engage with the committee and provide a briefing to it on the public services card and such actions as the Department is undertaking in respect of the Data Protection Commissioner's investigative report into the public services card. It is a very serious concern.I am not going to rehash the discussions we have had on a number of occasions in this House over the past three years, but it is unfortunate to note that the Government is continuing to accelerate and dig down on this by attaching a requirement to the public services card in regard to the provision of childcare services. In making that a requirement rather than having a precautionary measure of another form of identification which might be acceptable, it seems we are taking our contract with the provider of the public services card seriously to the detriment of our regard for international law.

This contract was signed one month in advance of the publication of the Data Protection Commission's report. Despite the concerns around it and the investigation that was under way, the Department signed another contract. There has been an acceleration of the roll-out of the public services card and there are reports of transition year students having been issued with them. In many cases, which feature in the Data Protection Commission's report, persons were issued with public services card by post, thereby rendering redundant any argument around the supposed SAFE 2 process, which the Department itself invented as a different standard.

These are all issues that perhaps might better be teased out in the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I understand that the Chairman of the committee has been in touch with the Department and has proposed a date for its engagement with the committee in regard to these issues. It would, of course, be my preference if they were able to engage in that sense by agreement with the Chairman and members of the committee, and that would allow me to withdraw the amendment. Perhaps the Minister will agree or indicate where her discussion is at in terms of attendance at the committee.