Nicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the necessary provisions in relation to identification are made available to people who are not in possession of a drivers' licence or a passport; if a national roll-out of public service ID cards will take place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6701/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Department of Social Protection has developed, in conjunction with a number of other Government Departments, a rules based standard for establishing and authenticating an individual’s identity for the purposes of access to public services. This programme of work, which is known as the Standard Authentication Framework Environment or SAFE for short, also provided for the introduction of a Public Services Card (PSC) to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and with a minimum of duplication of effort, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible.

A PSC is currently issued following a “face-to-face” registration process which involves the capture of an individual’s photograph and signature and the verification of identity data already held by the Department. As part of the registration process, applicants are requested to provide documentation supporting the authentication of their identity. This is most easily achieved through the presentation of secure photographic ID such as a passport, National Identity card, driver’s licence etc.

The process does take into account that some people will not have such documents. In the main, these will be UK or Irish nationals as others will require a valid passport or National ID card to be present in the jurisdiction. The process for applicants without photo ID will take slightly longer as it involves a more in-depth interview focussing on the verification of personal information available to the Department.

The creation of a SAFE registration environment involves improving the technical connectivity, installing new equipment and training staff in these offices to support the registration process. The registration process is now live in over 40 DSP Offices with 87 SAFE Stations in production and some 475 staff have been trained. Approximately 125,000 PSCs have been issued to date.

The majority of these cards have been issued to new claimants for Jobseekers Benefit/Allowance and applicants for a new PPS number in Local Offices that have been equipped to carry out SAFE registrations.

A small number of PSCs have also been issued through a reduced registration process using information already available to the State such as a passport application. During 2013 this process will be extended to customers for whom a reduced process is appropriate. With the range of registrations processes available, the number of PSCs to be produced from 2013 onwards will be significantly increased.