Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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724. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to long waiting periods experienced by persons needing to obtain a public services card; and the steps her Department is taking to ensure the card can be obtained as soon as possible for the purpose of accessing important public services. [42887/21]

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

Any person who requires a PSC should contact their local DSP office.

My Department carries out an average of 1,000 PSC appointments each day, across its nationwide office network.

It is the case that some offices of the Department are experiencing high levels of demand for appointments. Additional staff are being assigned to increase the capacity in our offices in respect of such appointments, and that capacity will be increased over the coming weeks and will address the number of applications pending.

In respect of those customers who already have a PSC but wish to renew their card, they have the option of contacting their local office for an appointment or they can use the new online PSC renewal service which is available on MyWelfare.ie.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.