Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 July 2014
343. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the number of photographic identity cards that have been issued by her Department; the amount that remain to be issued; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32204/14]
View answerThe Public Services Card (PSC) has been introduced to enable individuals 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.
The PSC is designed to replace other cards within the public sector such as the Free Travel Pass and the Social Services Card (SSC) of this Department and to make it easy for providers of public services to verify the identity of customers.
Approximately 792,000 PSCs have been produced to date. These include around 202,000 PSC Free Travel variants. It is intended to issue PSCs to 3 million people by the end of 2016.
