Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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1126. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to reopen services relating to public services cards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18754/21]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1133. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will clarify the situation with regard to the issuing of new public services cards; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that persons cannot get access to certain services, for example, applying for a learner’s permit due to public services cards which are needed to apply for same are not being issued at present; the alternatives to accessing services without a public services card that exist; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18979/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1126 and 1133 together.

At the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Department temporarily suspended Public Services Card (PSC) appointments and the online system used to manage those appointments. This decision was taken in order to comply with HSE and World Health Organisation guidelines and help protect the health and well-being of our customers and staff. Decisions regarding the reinstatement of these services have been made with regard to the importance of ensuring the continuing safety of customers and staff.

PSC appointments are currently suspended due to the prevailing Level 5 restrictions, but appointments are available for urgent cases in circumstances where the customer has no alternative means of accessing public services other than by acquiring a PSC. So far this year, my Department has carried out over 14,000 PSC appointments in such cases.

Any person urgently requiring a PSC should contact their local Intreo Centre.

Enquiries regarding accessing a particular service from another Departments is a matter for the relevant Department.

I trust this clarifies the matter.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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1127. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the legal basis for demanding the public services card for other public services in view of the Data Protection Commission report; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18760/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Every day the State delivers important and valuable services and benefits to the people of this State. It is critically important that we can do so in the knowledge that the person in receipt of these services is who they claim to be. It is also important that we minimise the need for people to authenticate their identity each time they need to enter into a transaction with a public body.

A key aim of the Public Service Card (PSC) and the SAFE identity authentication process that underpins it is to deliver on these objectives.

Since 1998, when legislative provision was first made for the PSC, it was always intended that it would be used widely across the public service to assist people in their dealings with public sector organisations. The list of public bodies that are authorised to use the PSC is set out in Schedule 5 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended).

Section 263 of that same Act provides that a person shall produce his or her PSC at the request of a specified body for the purpose of a transaction. It is a matter for each specified body as to whether they decide to request a person to present their PSC when transacting with that body.

In October 2017, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) commenced an investigation into the SAFE/PSC process. The DPC sent its Final Report on this investigation to the Department in August 2019. In essence it found that while the processing of personal data to authenticate a person's identity and issue a PSC for the purpose of providing services delivered by my Department is lawful, the same is not the case when a person is acquiring a PSC for use with the services of other specified public bodies.

Having carefully considered the report of the DPC and having consulted with the Attorney General’s Office, the Department is satisfied that the processing of personal data for the authenticating identity and issuing a PSC is in fact lawful in situations where the person is acquiring a PSC for use with another specified public body. The Department set out its position at the time that it published the report of the DPC.

Subsequently, in December 2019, the Department received enforcement proceedings from the DPC in respect of the August 2019 Report.

The Department filed an appeal against the Enforcement Notice and, as the matter is now before the Courts, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy