Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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391. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person in receipt of or who is applying for a social welfare payment is obliged to get a Public Services Card given that an investigation is currently underway by the Data Protection Office which is focusing on the use of the public service identity dataset and other systems linked to the card such as single customer view and MyGovID; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58535/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Social welfare legislation (Section 241 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended) provides that it shall be a condition of any person’s right to benefit that they, inter alia, satisfy the Minister as to their identity.

It also provides (in section 247C of the same Act) that a person in receipt of any social welfare benefit must satisfy the Minister as to their identity, when requested to do so.

The SAFE registration process is the process through which a person satisfies the Minister as to their identity. Once their identity is verified in this way, they are issued with a Public Services Card which can be used as proof of their identity when dealing with public service bodies.

In their 2019 Report into the processing of personal data in relation to SAFE registration processing, the Data Protection Commission found that my Department has a legal basis for the processing of such data and for the issuing of a PSC for the purpose of authenticating the identity of a person claiming, presenting for or receiving a social welfare benefit.