Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 102: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to calls from a lone parents organisation (details supplied) for recognition for lone parent families under the Constitution; his views in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5903/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Families and family life in Ireland have been undergoing profound change in recent decades, which includes the significant growth in the proportion of families headed by lone parents. The Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, in inviting submissions, has specifically stated that account will be taken of these developments in their consideration of the possible need for changes to the provisions on families in the Constitution. I do not consider that it would be appropriate for me at this stage, as Minister, to pre-empt the conclusions and recommendations to be arrived at by the Oireachtas committee by commenting on any submission made to it by any organisation or individual, including the organisation referred to by the Deputy.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to introduce photo identification in conjunction with the free travel pass; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5860/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Free travel passes issued by my Department do not display a photograph of the passholders. However, it is a CIE requirement that passholders resident in the major cities — Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Galway — must obtain an ancillary photopass from CIE in order to use the CIE Group services in those cities. This photopass is obtained free of charge by eligible passholders, with the cost being met by my Department.

The primary reason for photo identification is to prevent fraud of the system through free travel passes being transferred.

While the Department has no immediate plans to introduce a photo-type free travel pass, it has been working closely with a number of other bodies in efforts to develop a more secure type of free travel pass which may include photo identification. The issues which must be considered in carrying out this work include those of standards for public service cards generally and also, issues around data protection.

My Department is currently chairing an interdepartmental steering group to develop a set of standards for a public service card. These will provide a framework within which existing plastic cards issued by Departments can converge.

The Department is also a key stakeholder for the purposes of the integrated ticketing project in the greater Dublin area, GDA, which is being carried out by the Rail Procurement Agency, RPA, for the Department of Transport. This system will be implemented by way of a smartcard and initial roll-out of the card is planned for later this year. This card is expected to comply with the standard referred to earlier and may contain a photograph.

I will ensure that my Department continues to work closely with all of the bodies concerned to progress the introduction of a more secure free travel pass.