Section 241 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 (as amended), provides that a person must satisfy the Minister as to his/her identity when making a new claim for a social welfare payment/entitlement and sets out how that can be done.
Section 247C of the 2005 Act provides that an existing claimant must satisfy the Minister as to his/her identity, sets out how that can be done and provides for disqualification where an existing claimant fails to so do.
Once a customer completes the SAFE 2 registration process, they may be issued with a Public Services Card, PSC. The PSC is replacing older documents used to show entitlement to a benefit, including the social welfare services card and the paper travel pass.
Accordingly, it will in future be necessary to produce a PSC as proof of identity for certain types of transactions, including collecting welfare payments in cash at post offices and availing of free travel on public transport.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.