Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2017
680. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position in respect of public services cards for those claiming a social welfare payment; the number of persons that have been refused payment as a result of not having a card; the payments concerned and the legal basis for such refusal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42850/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2005, the Government approved a rules-based standard for establishing and authenticating an individual’s identity for the purposes of access to public services. This standard is known as the Standard Authentication Framework Environment, SAFE. A person who successfully completes a SAFE 2 registration process (i.e. verifies their identity to a substantial level of assurance) is issued with a Public Services Card, PSC.
In the case of my Department’s own services, the legislation governing identity verification for existing claimants is set out in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, as amended, viz:
- Section 247C(1) of the Act provides that the Minister may require any person receiving a benefit to satisfy the Minister as to his or her identity;
- Section 247C(2) of the Act specifies the consequences of failure to satisfy the Minister in relation to identity as required, specifically that a person shall be disqualified from receiving a benefit; and
- Section 247C(3) of the Act specifies the manner in which the Minister may be so satisfied; in effect, this section describes the process for registering a person’s identity - this is the SAFE 2 Process.
This legislation requires a person to satisfy the Minister as to his or her identity and allows disqualification from receipt of a benefit in the event that it is not done. It is not possible for a person to satisfy the Minister as to his or her identity without being SAFE 2 registered.
My Department does not collect data on the number of individuals who currently, or who, at any point in time, have had a payment stopped by reason of failing to complete the SAFE 2 registration process. The Deputy will appreciate that this data is fluid in nature, e.g. a considerable number of customers who have a payment or entitlement suspended subsequently decide to complete the SAFE 2 process and have their payment or entitlement reinstated and backdated to the date of suspension. It should be noted that of the remainder, a considerable portion do not make any contact with the Department at all.
The decision to stop a payment is never made lightly. However, where a customer does not satisfy the Minister in relation to identity, in accordance with the legislative requirements, a payment can be disqualified. In advance of any such disqualification, the Department makes every effort to engage with the customer to explain the legislative basis for the SAFE 2 registration process and the consequences of potential disqualification. Where a payment has been disqualified and the customer subsequently successfully completes the SAFE 2 registration process, his or her payment will be reinstated by my Department (assuming the customer continues to meet all qualifying criteria for that payment) from the date of compliance.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
