Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

497. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason a person applying for the national theory test through the Road Safety Authority, RSA, is now required to have a public services card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48684/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am glad that the Deputy has raised this important matter.

There is a considerable burden placed on individual citizens by the need to provide a variety of documents to different State bodies when applying for different public services.  For many years now it has been policy - under successive governments and enshrined in law since 2005 as part of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act of that year - to reduce this burden, and the administrative burden on the State, by making the Public Services Card (PSC) a one-stop-shop for ID verification.

Under the 2005 legislation, 'specified bodies' - which include the Road Safety Authority - may require production of the PSC as part of a transaction such as an application process.  Since June of this year, the RSA has required production of the PSC as proof of identity in the process of taking a Driver Theory Test.