Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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596. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the exact date invitations to register for a public services card were first sent by her Department to persons who have been registered to SAFE 2 standard by the National Driver Licence Service; if the information used to identify persons who do not have a public services card but are SAFE authenticated and invite these persons to register for a card is obtained by her Department from the Road Safety Authority or the National Driver Licence Service; if a data sharing agreement exists between her Department and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Road Safety Authority or the National Driver Licence Service; and if so, the date of this agreement. [14003/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The National Driver Licence Service (NDLS) does not register its customers to SAFE 2 standard. However, it does authenticate customer identities in a face-to-face engagement, including the capture of a photograph.

In August 2017, my Department commenced inviting NDLS customers to complete SAFE 2 registration by post. Invites were only issued to customers whose Public Services Identity data, supplied to the NDLS, matched the data held on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s system and whose interaction with the NDLS had taken place since March 2014. This eliminated the need for the invitee to attend at an Intreo centre or a dedicated SAFE Registration centre specifically for the purpose of registering to SAFE 2.

If the customer chose to avail of this option, they were required to complete the form supplied with the invitation. If the customer chose not to complete the process, no further invite was issued.

As part of the process, the customer also had to consent to the Department using the photograph, already captured in a face-to-face interaction with the NDLS to complete the SAFE 2 process. Once the customer has completed the SAFE 2 registration process, a Public Services Card may issue.

The legal basis for sharing data is provided in the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005, as amended and is prescribed to certain specified bodies and only for the purposes of public service transactions. The list of specified bodies that may use PSI data under Sections 260-265 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) is contained in Schedule 5 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act and includes the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority.

As Data Controller, for the Public Services Identity, my Department is obligated to ensure, as far as is possible, that the data it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. Legislation also provides that, where a specified body collects from a person any of his/her PSI data, that information shall also be collected for the purpose of maintaining the person’s public service identity.

A data sharing agreement is currently being formalised with the Department of Transport and the Road Safety Authority, in line with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation.

I trust this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.