Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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544. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on proposals to enable persons who are cocooning due to Covid-19 to apply for a public services card without attending an in-person appointment. [11457/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The SAFE registration process, which my Department uses to authenticate a person's identity, is a face to face process which results in the issuing of a Public Services Card (PSC).

PSC appointments are currently suspended due to the prevailing Level 5 restrictions. Appointments are available, however, for urgent cases in circumstances where the customer has no alternative means of accessing public services other than by acquiring a PSC, and over 8,700 SAFE registrations have been carried out since the beginning of the current Level 5 restrictions. Any person urgently requiring a PSC should contact their local Intreo Centre.

It is not possible for someone who does not already have a PSC to acquire one without attending an in-person appointment.

However, in June 2020, my Department introduced the facility to issue a new PSC, valid for a further three year period, to customers whose PSC has expired. Customers can avail of this service by telephoning their local Intreo Centre or the free travel or PSC helpdesk areas of my Department where my officials will be happy to assist them.

In addition, my Department is developing an online PSC renewal service. It is expected that this service will be available in April 2021.

It is important to note that an expired PSC can be used to collect a social welfare payment at the post office, to avail of free travel, and to set up a verified MyGovID account which can be used to access online services provided by many public sector bodies.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.