Written answers

Wednesday, 20 September 2017

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Data Sharing Arrangements

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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711. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps that have been taken in sharing the personal data of those claiming social protection payments with driver licence data held by the RSA; the purpose of this project; if her departmental staff are to be involved in roadside checks; her views on the data rights of claimants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39641/17]

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The project relates to the verification of personal identity to a substantial level of assurance.

In 2005, the Government agreed a standard for establishing and verifying an individual’s identity for the purposes of accessing public services. This standard is known as the Standard Authentication Framework Environment – or “SAFE”.

The SAFE standard has four levels:

Safe 0= No assurance of identity

Safe 1= Balance of probabilities (the minimum authentication level for the allocation of a PPS Number)

Safe 2= Substantial assurance (the minimum authentication level for issuing a Public Services Card)

Safe 3= Beyond reasonable doubt

The Department operates a number of methods to SAFE 2 register a person (i.e. verify their identity to a substantial level of assurance). The usual method involves a combination of all of the following:

- a face-to-face meeting,

- the collection and verification of the person’s Public Service Identity (PSI) data set,

- the examination/validation/verification of at least two documents supporting identity, and

- photo capture and matching.

As part of the verification process the person’s photo is run through software to check against other photos that have already been taken during other SAFE 2 registrations. This is to detect and/or prevent duplicate registrations.

Accordingly, SAFE Level 2 registration allows a person to verify their identity once for public service purposes because it is to a substantial level of assurance. Consequently, it eliminates the need for a person to repeatedly register their identity information when accessing public services. It makes it more difficult for someone else to claim to be a person and so helps to eliminate “identity theft” and fraudulent access to someone else’s data. It also facilitates the provision of high-value and personalised public services online – in a way that isn’t possible without robust identity verification.

My Department has been implementing SAFE 2 identity verification on a phased basis since 2011. More recently, other public service bodies have begun implementing it for their services. As a consequence, and in addition to services from my Department, SAFE 2 identity verification is now required for –

- First time adult passport applicants in the state.

- Replacement of lost, stolen or damaged passports issued prior to January 2005, where the person is resident in the State.

- Citizenship applications.

- Driver Theory Test Applicants.

- Access to high value or personal online public services, e.g. Social Protection’s MyWelfare and Revenue’s MyAccount services.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform recently published the eGovernment Strategy 2017 – 2020 which lists a number of additional public services for which SAFE 2 registration will be required over the next 18 months or so, with others likely to be added over time. That Strategy is available on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s dedicated website at

While the face-to-face meeting mentioned above is the usual method of SAFE 2 registering a person, the Department does operate other processes where possible. In line with SAFE principles to build on already existing infrastructure (and subject to appropriate risk analysis, legally based data sharing and the consent of the individual), upgrading existing customers to SAFE Level 2 is undertaken as much as possible using relevant data already held by the State (e.g. Driver’s License, Passport Office, All-Ireland Free Travel Scheme) combined with a number of other items and processes. Examples of this include some pensioners who have had a passport photograph verified in a face-to-face interaction at passport application and some Free Travel clients who personally collect their primary Social Welfare payments at a Post Office not needing to attend a Department office for a face-to-face interview but instead providing by post whatever other information is required to register them to SAFE 2.

In addition, and specifically with regard to the Deputy’s question, certain persons who have renewed their Driver’s Licence since March 2014 and in doing so have provided the Road Safety Authority with personal identity information and a photograph are also being offered the opportunity to complete the SAFE 2 registration process without attending a Department office. This is entirely voluntary and is being provided to people as a convenience rather than a requirement. Details of this initiative are set out in a Privacy Impact Assessment on my Department’s website at: www.welfare.ie/en/downloads/Privacy_Impact_Assessment_RSA_data-Jan2017.pdf.

In each of these approaches, as in the face-to-face meeting approach, photographs are checked against photographs from other SAFE registrations.

The SAFE 2 identity verification process has absolutely no connection whatsoever with the practice whereby Departmental Inspectors participate in Multi Agency Vehicle Checks with An Garda Síochána and a number of other agencies.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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