Free travel passes issued by my Department do not display a photograph of the passholders. However, it is a CIE requirement that passholders resident in the major cities — Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Galway — must obtain an ancillary photopass from CIE in order to use the CIE Group services in those cities. This photopass is obtained free of charge by eligible passholders, with the cost being met by my Department.
The primary reason for photo identification is to prevent fraud of the system through free travel passes being transferred.
While the Department has no immediate plans to introduce a photo-type free travel pass, it has been working closely with a number of other bodies in efforts to develop a more secure type of free travel pass which may include photo identification. The issues which must be considered in carrying out this work include those of standards for public service cards generally and also, issues around data protection.
My Department is currently chairing an interdepartmental steering group to develop a set of standards for a public service card. These will provide a framework within which existing plastic cards issued by Departments can converge.
The Department is also a key stakeholder for the purposes of the integrated ticketing project in the greater Dublin area, GDA, which is being carried out by the Rail Procurement Agency, RPA, for the Department of Transport. This system will be implemented by way of a smartcard and initial roll-out of the card is planned for later this year. This card is expected to comply with the standard referred to earlier and may contain a photograph.
I will ensure that my Department continues to work closely with all of the bodies concerned to progress the introduction of a more secure free travel pass.