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Public Services Card

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Questions (642, 649)

Nicky McFadden

Question:

642. Deputy Nicky McFadden asked the Minister for Social Protection the progress being made in issuing public services cards; the rationale for their issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35173/13]

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Paudie Coffey

Question:

649. Deputy Paudie Coffey asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of public service cards that have been issued since their introduction on a county basis in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35345/13]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 642 and 649 together.

The Department of Social Protection (DSP) has developed, in conjunction with a number of other Government Departments, a rules based standard for establishing and authenticating an individual’s identity for the purposes of access to public services. This programme of work, which is known as the Standard Authentication Framework Environment or SAFE for short, also provided for the introduction of a Public Services Card (PSC) to enable individuals to gain access to public services more efficiently and with a minimum of duplication of effort, while at the same time preserving their privacy to the maximum extent possible.

It is anticipated that the introduction of the PSC will result in a number of financial and other benefits including:

- Reduction in the rate of fraud and errors caused by incorrectly identified and authenticated individuals.

- Improvement in existing cards (e.g. Social Services Cards and Free Travel), through better security features, considerably reducing the potential for forgery and fraudulent use.

- Improvement in the efficiency of every service delivered by the State through the removal of the duplication caused by multiple agencies each solving the problem of identity and authentication themselves.

A PSC is currently issued following a registration process, which involves the capture/utilisation of an individual’s photograph and signature and the verification of identity data already held by the Department. To date, the Department has deployed two registration methods – a "face to face" process involving personal attendance at a DSP Office and a centrally managed "reduced process" which does not require personal attendance but rather utilises data already held by other State agencies (in the first instance, the Passport Office).

The face to face registration process is now live in over 51 DSP Offices with 112 SAFE Stations in production. Some 565 staff have been trained. Over 270,000 PSCs have been issued to date. The majority of these cards have been issued to new claimants for Jobseekers Benefit-Allowance and applicants for a new PPS number in Local Offices that have been equipped to carry out SAFE registrations. The following table sets out the number of PSC cardholders in each county as at 8 July 2013, the latest date for which such a breakdown is available.

No. of PSC cardholders by County 08/07/2013

County

No. of Public Service Card cardholders

Antrim

216

Armagh

78

Carlow

3,408

Cavan

601

Clare

4,386

Cork

3,993

Derry

63

Donegal

16,270

Down

391

Dublin

121,659

Fermanagh

45

Galway

4,038

Kerry

9,950

Kildare

3,628

Kilkenny

6,130

Laois

1,093

Leitrim

3,262

Limerick

4,009

Longford

5,313

Louth

6,530

Mayo

9,190

Meath

5,309

Monaghan

426

Offaly

5,179

Roscommon

2,041

Sligo

9,151

Tipperary

7,544

Tyrone

48

Waterford

7,266

Westmeath

6,272

Wexford

7,805

Wicklow

8,188

Total

263,482

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