Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if elderly persons who are in long stay nursing homes receive the social services card; and the arrangements that will be put in place in respect of photographs and identification; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38411/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Public Services Card (PSC) has been introduced 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. The PSC is designed to replace other cards within the public sector such as the free travel pass and the social services card and to make it easy for providers of public services to verify the identity of customers.

A PSC is currently issued following a registration process which involves the capture of an individual’s photograph and signature and the verification of identity data already held by the Department of Social Protection.

Face-to-Face registration is taking place countrywide in 80 offices of the Department for individual applicants for a Personal Public Service (PPS) Number and people applying for, or in receipt of, social protection payments or benefits, including Jobseeker payments, Free Travel entitlement, Child Benefit payments, State Pensions, and One Parent Family payments.

Selected low-risk customers have also been invited to avail of a ‘postal’ registration process which involves utilisation, with consent, of information already provided to other Government agencies, for example, a photograph supplied in connection with an application for a passport.

In addition, selected pensioners over 66 who collect their payments at a Post Office are being invited to register by post. This process includes the person providing two passport-standard photographs.

The Department is currently finalising the development of a mobile registration facility that is suitable for the registration of persons who wish to register for a PSC but cannot avail of other registration options referred to above. This option may be offered to elderly persons who are in long stay nursing homes and wish to register for a PSC.

It should be noted that a person’s entitlement to a social welfare benefit will not be adversely affected if he/she is legitimately unable, for health or mobility reasons, to complete the PSC registration process.