Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support this amendment. When this issue kicked off over the summer recess, we wrote to the committee requesting that the Minister be asked to appear before it to discuss the matter, which call we reiterate today. This is a serious issue. The finding of the independently appointed Data Protection Commission is that the public services card is unlawful. Yet, the response of Government and the Department of Social Protection is to plough ahead regardless, which is incomprehensible. There are grave concerns about the public services card, not least the manner in which the contract was awarded. There are many questions to be answered. The Minister and her officials need to elaborate on what they have in their armour that they believe is sufficiently strong to counteract the independent Data Protection Commissioner's reported finding that the public services card is unlawful.