John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1671. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she or bodies and agencies under the remit of her Department plans to make services or payments dependant on the mandatory use and production of the public services card; if so, the services and payments which will now be dependant on the mandatory use of the public services card; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38142/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I can inform the Deputy that the only scheme where consideration is being given to the use of the Public Service Card is in the Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS). The ACS was announced as part of budget 2017 as a new national scheme of financial support for parents towards the cost of their childcare. It will replace the existing targeted childcare subsidisation schemes, which are:

1. the Community Childcare Subvention Programme (CCS)

2. the Childcare Education and Training Support Programme (CETS),

3. the After-School Childcare Programme (ASCC)

4. the Community Employment Childcare Programme (CEC).

The system to administer the ACS is being built. It will enable parents to apply on-line. It is imperative that this is a secure system to support strong data protection and in-built checks. It is intended that the MyGovID System will be used as the authentication mechanism to provide access to the ACS. MyGovID is the SAFE 2 registered online verification of the Public Services Card. Applicants should be SAFE 2 registered in order to make an application to access the scheme. In order to support a user-friendly process, this online system will involve linkages to Revenue and Department of Social Protection IT databases, which should enable automated verification of income data and automated approval of applications in a large number of cases. This will reduce the administrative burden associated with the application and approval process and make the scheme more accessible to families.

With regard to the bodies under the aegis of my Department, I am informed that the Adoption Authority of Ireland has no plans to make any of their services dependent on the use of the public service card. I have referred the question to the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, for direct reply to the Deputy.