Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 November 2014
42. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the actual data held on the new public service card incorporating photo ID; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43529/14]
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.
A PSC is currently issued following a registration process which is called a SAFE registration process. This involves the capture of an individual’s photograph and signature and the verification of identity data already held by the Department. Both the PSC and SAFE registration are provided for in primary legislation.
The PSC itself securely contains a person's identity dataset on the PSC chip. The data encoded on the chip is as follows: Name, Personal Public Service Number (PPSN), Photograph, Signature, Card issue number, Card expiry date, Date of birth, Sex, All former surnames (if any) of mother, Place of birth, All former surnames (if any), Nationality.
A subset of this data is also stored on the face of the card: Name, PPSN, Photograph, Signature, Card issue number, and Card expiry date.
The Department is committed to protecting the rights and privacy of individuals in accordance with the Data Protection Acts. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner was consulted and involved in card design discussions. The card has multiple protection mechanisms, all of the highest current international standards, to prevent and detect tampering with the physical card and its contents. As well as some hidden security features, the card contains visual measures such as its overall graphical design, branding, microprinting, use of optical variable ink and a kinegram. In addition, a PSC and a card reader will communicate with each other by cryptographic means. Only card readers specifically programmed to accept PSCs can undertake this functionality.
The SAFE registration process and the roll-out of the PSC holds a number of benefits for the customers, the Department and for other Public Service bodies. These include 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, a reduction in the rate of fraud and errors caused by incorrectly identified and authenticated people, and 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.
The introduction of the card, in addition to providing a more efficient service for customers, is also helping to deter and prevent irregularities, including identity theft. The Department has deployed facial image matching software to help detect and deter duplicate SAFE registrations. This has led to the identification of 39 cases (individuals) of facial matches with some prosecutions pending as a result.
