Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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123. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to a supermarket chain (details supplied) seeking job applicants to supply personal public service numbers before being allowed to submit a job application; if this practice is lawful; if it is authorised or condoned by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46874/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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A Personal Public Service (PPS) number is a reference number established for specific public service purposes by legislation.

My Department is committed to protecting and facilitating the use of the PPS Number in accordance with the law. The legislation governing the use of the PPS Number is contained in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 (as amended). Under social welfare legislation, only bodies specified in statute or their agents can use the PPS Number. It is an offence for any person or body to request or hold a record of a PPS Number unless they are permitted by law to do so.

There is no basis for a prospective employer to capture a candidate's PPS Number at the application stage. An employer should only seek a PPS Number if the person is successful at recruitment stage and is actually taking up employment with the organisation. At that point an employer requires the PPS Number of the employee for Revenue purposes. When it comes to the attention of my department that an employer is inappropriately requesting PPS numbers my Department contacts the organisation in question informing the organisation that they are not permitted to request the PPS Number at the job application stage and informing them to take the action necessary (including the destruction of the PPS Numbers collected) to remedy the situation. They are also requested to advise my Department when this has been done. If no response is received, the organisation is contacted again. The experience of my Department to date has been that implementing the procedure outlined above has resulted in full compliance. As a result, my Department has no record of any organisation not becoming fully compliant once the issue has been highlighted to them.

In relation to the particular case referred to by the Deputy, my Department has both written to and telephoned the organisation in question in recent days informing it that it is not permitted to request the PPS Number at the job application stage, informing it to take the action necessary (including the destruction of the PPS Numbers collected) to remedy the situation, and requesting it to advise my Department when this has been done. I wish to assure the Deputy that, as in all such cases, the matter will be pursued vigorously to ensure compliance.