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Public Services Card Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 March 2018

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Ceisteanna (544)

Mick Wallace

Ceist:

544. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons that have been offered public services cards each year since 2011 that did not go through the SAFE 2 registration process; the way in which this offer was made; and the number of public services cards issued to persons in this category in each year since 2011. [10839/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

A Public Services Card cannot be issued to a person unless they first complete a SAFE registration process.

My Department operates a number of methods to SAFE register a person. The usual method involves a combination of all of the following including:

- A face-to-face meeting at an Intreo Centre or a dedicated SAFE registration centre;

- The collection and verification of the basic identity information known as the person’s Public Service Identity (PSI) data set;

- The examination/validation/verification of at least two documents supporting identity; and

- Photo-matching.

As part of the verification process, the person’s photo is run through software to check against other photos that have already been taken during other SAFE registrations. This is to detect and/or prevent duplicate registrations.

My Department can also provide a mobile registration service to cater for people who have difficulty attending an Intreo Centre or a SAFE registration centre

In some cases, where a customer authenticates their identity in another face-to-face engagement, the Department may collect elements of the PSI data by post and, with the consent of the customer, will utilise existing photographs to complete the SAFE2 process. This eliminates the need to attend at an Intreo Centre or a dedicated SAFE registration centre specifically for the purpose of registering to SAFE2.

Over 2.65 million people are SAFE-registered to date, of whom 493,466 were registered by post. A breakdown of these cases by year is as follows:

Year Total

2012 5,325

2013 87,435

2014 156,493

2015 61,156

2016 142,123

2017 24,461

2018 16,473

Total 493,466

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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