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Public Services Card

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 November 2021

Wednesday, 24 November 2021

Ceisteanna (130)

Catherine Connolly

Ceist:

130. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to commission an independent review of the roll-out to date of the public services card; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58026/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

On 5th November 2021, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a cost-benefit analysis report on the Public Service Identity (PSI) management framework as one of the Autumn Spending Review Papers.

The PSI management framework consists of the SAFE registration service, the Public Services Card (PSC) and the MyGovID service.

The report was prepared as a Spending Review by the Department's Investment Analysis Unit which is part of the Irish Government Statistical Service and it was compiled in compliance with the principles of the Irish Statistical System Code of Practice and the Cost-Benefit Analysis principles laid down in the Public Spending Code.

The report has been peer-reviewed by the Spending Review Steering Group, chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

The report finds that, if the Public Service Identity management framework didn’t exist, delivering the same level of public services would require over one million extra identity checks every year. In financial terms, the report found that:

- Over the rollout period from 2010 to 2019, the total cost of the investment was €98 million but it generated benefits of €218 million over the same period.

- The investment paid for itself in less than five years.

- The total savings from the entire project from its inception out to 2030, adjusted for the time value of money is highly positive at over €206 million.

- Now, as a mature project with annual costs of about €10 million and annual benefits of about €30 million, the framework yields savings of over €20 million every year.

The report also identifies further positive financial impacts beyond those captured in the financial results. These are principally further efficiency gains to public service bodies; further control and customer contact savings accruing to my Department; and, especially, the value of time and cost savings for people using public services.

In qualitative terms, the report finds that the Public Service Identity management framework:

- has been successfully implemented, with clear institutional responsibility, secure and well-designed systems;

- has enabled both greater efficiency in the delivery of existing public services, and innovation in the design and delivery of new and reformed public services, including better crisis response capacity as well as minimisation of the use of personal data by public service bodies;

- has enhanced trust in Ireland’s public services, while the pervasive availability of a free, trusted public service identity and easier access to services has had a positive social inclusion impact.

A full copy of this report titled "The SAFE-PSC-MyGovID Framework for Public Service Identity Management - Cost Benefit Analysis" is available on gov.ie.

I trusty this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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