Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Social Protection

Public Services Card Provision

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

211. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether it is reasonable for a citizen to be required to take a day off work to attend an appointment to obtain a new public services card; if provision will be made to have out-of-hours appointments for those who are working full-time and in receipt of certain contributory pensions; the provisions available to assist with transport costs to attend such an appointment where the Intreo office is 40 km or more away; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13012/15]

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

The purpose of the Public Services Card (PSC) is 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 of this Department and to make it easy for providers of public services to verify the identity of customers. The introduction of the card, in addition to providing a more efficient service for customers, is also helping to deter and prevent irregularities, including personation and identity theft.

The PSC project is earmarked as a key initiative in the Public Service Reform Plan with the aim to “expand the use of the PSC to cover a greater range of services”. Approximately 1.3 million cards have now been issued. These include some 385,000 Free Travel variants. PSC registration is currently being expanded to encompass all 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.

A PSC is currently issued following a registration process involving the capture of an individual’s photograph and signature and the verification of identity data already held by the Department. Registration is taking place countrywide in 89 offices of the Department. Registration is something that a person will need to do once, and usually takes between 15 and 25 minutes to complete.

The legislation governing entitlement to social protection payments requires a person, when requested, to authenticate his or her identity. This is, in itself, a valuable control measure. Where a person requested to attend is unable to do so at the specified date time or location, and notifies the Department of this, the appointment will be re-scheduled to a date, time or location that suits him or her better. In relation to providing appointments outside of normal working hours, this is being looked into at present. An on-line appointment system is being developed and this is expected to be in operation in the second half of 2015, which should also facilitate persons in making appointments more suitable to their own circumstances. There are no plans to introduce measures to assist persons in travelling to registration centres.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.