Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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619. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if private companies can demand and or request a public services card in order to undertake customer authentication or identification; if private companies have access to databases to verify persons to their card; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43158/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Public Services Card can only be requested by a body specified in Schedule 5 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended, and only where that specified body has a transaction with a person concerned.

If an organisation is not a specified body, it is an offence for them to request a person to produce their PSC or to accept it if offered voluntarily.

Equally, if an organization is not a specified body, they do not have any access whatsoever to any data held by my Department in respect of any person.

It is important that the Department be made aware of any requests being made by a non-specified body for a person to produce or provide details of their PSC, so that the body can be contacted and advised of the legislative provisions in this area.

Specified bodies are, in all cases, required to process and store data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.