Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way her Department is exploring the way greater data and money transfer efficiencies will be realised in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24764/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department exchanges data with a range of agencies and is committed to using the most modern, efficient and secure methods available for this purpose. The Department actively supports government policy which aims to facilitate the greater use of electronic payment systems in the economy in the interests of developing a world class payments environment in Ireland. The Department's payment strategy is designed to ensure that cost effective arrangements are in place for making payments to social welfare customers by using a range of payment options and to ensure that new payment facilities are made available to customers as they arise. The current range of payment options offered by the Department to customers includes payment to a local post office, bank or building society account and credit unions that have financial regulatory approval.

Over one million payments across a range of schemes are issued to customers of the Department on a weekly basis. These payments are generated from several individual IT systems and merged into a single payments file prior to transmission to the payment agency concerned. The Department transfers over 40 data files containing customer payment information electronically, via the mechanisms outlined, on a weekly basis to payment agencies. The interagency data transfer mechanism on the Government Network is used for large volumes to and from public sector agencies. Secure point-to-point connections are used for the transfer of large data volumes to private sector agencies mainly for the purpose of generating payments. Smaller volumes of data are transferred via other secure, encrypted, data transmission facilities.

Departmental officials regularly review the security and efficiency aspects of information transfer arrangements. As well as internal reviews, officials are in regular contact with recipient agencies to ensure that arrangements for the transfer of data are the most efficient and secure mechanisms available at the time. The Department is also involved in discussions at EU working group level to ensure that future exchanges of data will be carried out in a secure, consistent and efficient manner between social security agencies in member states.