Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 December 2021
460. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide a schedule of all annual expenditure directly and indirectly associated with the creation, roll out and use of the public services card since its creation. [62012/21]
Amharc ar fhreagra461. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the methodology used to arrive at the findings contained in the report, The SAFE-PSC-MyGovID Framework for Public Service Identity Management: A Cost-Benefit Analysis (details supplied). [62013/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 460 and 461 together.
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 methodology used to determine the findings in the Report can be found under Chapter 4 of the Report - “Sources and Methods”. In line with international best practice, the Report adapted the principles of the Net Present Value (NPV) method to compare the actual costs and wider quantifiable benefits of the initiative to the costs that would have necessarily been incurred in the counterfactual scenario where the initiative was not undertaken, in order to assess which option has a lower quantifiable net present cost (NPC). This broader analytic approach is sometimes also referred to as a ‘Cost-Effectiveness Analysis’ (CEA), and the costs and benefits may be split between ‘financial’ and ‘economic’ categories.
The report has been peer-reviewed by the Spending Review Steering Group, chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The report found that:
- 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 investment in this framework paid for itself in less than five years;
- from 2010 to 2019, the total cost of the investment was €98 million but this generated benefits of €218 million over the same period;
- 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.
The Report set out expenditure on the PSI management framework from its inception in 2010 to 2019. The attached tabular statement contains updated figures which set out expenditure on the framework from 2010 to November 2021.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy. Tabular Statement
Public Service Identity (PSI) management Framework: Summary Expenditure 2010 - November 2021
|
Year |
SAFE ID verification |
PSC development, production & issuance |
MyGovID development & production |
Total costs |
|
€m |
€m |
€m |
€m |
|
|
2010 |
0.11 |
1.62 |
- |
1.73 |
|
2011 |
1.03 |
0.18 |
- |
1.21 |
|
2012 |
2.92 |
2.35 |
- |
5.27 |
|
2013 |
5.60 |
3.36 |
- |
8.96 |
|
2014 |
6.28 |
6.03 |
0.36 |
12.67 |
|
2015 |
7.26 |
5.02 |
1.48 |
13.76 |
|
2016 |
6.80 |
5.31 |
1.52 |
13.64 |
|
2017 |
6.93 |
4.93 |
2.25 |
14.11 |
|
2018 |
7.03 |
4.42 |
2.69 |
14.14 |
|
2019 |
5.75 |
3.60 |
2.76 |
12.11 |
|
2020 |
5.28 |
2.35 |
3.11 |
10.74 |
|
2021 |
4.64 |
1.96 |
2.53 |
9.13 |
|
Total |
59.64 |
41.13 |
16.70 |
117.47 |
