Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In speaking to this section I have put forward three material alternatives, three different ways through which I have tried to address the same issue. Amendment No. 15 refers to the personal public service number, PPSN, but my main concern is not with the PPSN as it exists. Many people have it as an identity card for different purposes.

Amendment No. 16 proposes the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3): "(3) A specified body which accepts a Public Services Card, MyGovID or entry in the Single Customer View Dataset as an appropriate means of identification for the purposes of a transaction must also set out and offer alternative methods by which a person can prove their identity for the purposes of that transaction.” I tried to word it in a way that reflects the fact that the Data Protection Commission has told us that a specified body cannot make possession of a public services card, MyGovID or entry in the single customer view dataset a mandatory requirement in respect of access to a service. We know that from the Data Protection Commission report. That is the legal position. I had a previous amendment which replicated that but I do not want to put into law what has already been identified as being in law. I proposed this new subsection simply to underscore for the Government when it seemed at one point it may have been proceeding, for example, with the national childcare scheme, in requiring persons to engage with the public services card system, a deeply flawed system, and the MyGovID system, which is linked.

I was cautious in putting forward an amendment to the principal Act because the law already prohibits what I am seeking to avoid. Given the Government has now made it clear that there will be a paper alternative, although I believe it is still inadequate, that allows persons to access the national childcare scheme via alternative means, and then MyGovID and the online interface connected with that, I can withdraw amendment No. 16. I am torn because I would like to copperfasten it but I believe the legal interpretation of the existing law will fulfil the function that I seek to bring forward. That interpretation differs from the one the Minister has offered.