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No legal basis for mandatory Public Services Card to access State services other than welfare, landmark probe finds

The Data Protection Commissioner’s long-awaited report has huge implications for the controversial card.

data 583_90501085 Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie Sam Boal / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

A LANDMARK INVESTIGATION has found that there is no lawful basis for a person to be required to get a Public Services Card (PSC) for anything other than social welfare payments and benefits. 

The results of the long-awaited probe into the legality of the controversial PSC by the Data Protection Commissioner were sent to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection this week.

The report outlines how there is no lawful basis for any department, except for the Department of Social Protection, for insisting a client obtain a PSC to use or access a public service. It also found that the Department of Social Protection has no legal right to retain supporting documents, such as utility bills, collected during the PSC registration process. And it criticised the department for not being sufficiently transparent in terms of the personal data it has processed in relation to the PSC.

Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon told TheJournal.ie: “The headline findings of the investigation is that public sector bodies other than the department itself cannot compel individuals to attend Safe-2 registration at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, and cannot require individuals who don’t have a Public Services Card to procure one for the purposes of engaging in a service with them.”

The Public Services Card was first introduced back in 2011 – when 4,000 cards were issued in a pilot project. By 2019, over 3 million of them had been created. 

The government said the card would increase efficiency in delivering public services, and help to tackle social welfare fraud. Originally required for just social welfare payments – such as carer’s allowance, State pension or jobseekers’ allowance – over the years this expanded and it was made a requirement for obtaining a driver’s licence and a passport.

A draft of the report was furnished to the department in August last year but its content was not made public. Last November, the department replied with a submission that was “several hundred pages long”, addressing that draft report.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties for a copy of the draft report was earlier refused because it “may be contrary to public interest”.

TheJournal.ie reported in June that the report was at an advanced stage and can confirm today that it has been completed and sent to the department. 

Dixon said that there “isn’t a significant difference” in the main findings in the original draft report and the findings in the finalised report that has now been sent to the department. 

Main findings

psc Sample PSC

The investigation from the Data Protection Commissioner into the legality of the Public Services Card has made three main findings.

Firstly, there is no lawful basis for the Department of Social Protection to rely on the Safe 2-register (the process used to verify someone’s identity and issue them with a PSC), and subsequently issue cards to people who need the card for anything other than dealing with this specific department.

Put plainly, there’s a basis in law for the Department of Social Protection to tell a citizen to get a PSC so they can obtain a social welfare payment, according to Dixon.

But there is no legal basis for anybody to be told to go get a Public Services Card in order to access other public services, for example, a passport or a driving licence. It should not be mandatory or compulsory to avail of any other public service. 

The Data Protection Commissioner has found that no other body – apart from the Department of Social Protection – can insist that a client obtain a Public Services Card to use or access a service.

Secondly, the department has no lawful basis for retaining all of the supporting documentation it collects after it has verified a person’s identity through its Safe process and issued a Public Services Card.

Dixon said that its investigation has found that supplementary documents a person provides to get a PSC, such as a utility bill or an official letter, is retained indefinitely by the department. So far, 3.2 million cards have been issued. 

“We fail to see what the requirement and necessity is to retain the documentation once the identity has been authenticated,” Dixon said. 

Thirdly, the Data Protection Commissioner has found the department hasn’t been sufficiently transparent in terms of the personal data it processes in the context of the PSC.

“The department has suggested that the benefits of the public services card are to simplify identify registration processes for individuals when they engage with the range of public sector bodies, and to reduce the need for them to engage in duplicate registration processes where they have to bring the same supporting documentation.

And they say it’s a benefit to the public because it enables them to access services and facilitates them in accessing [them]. What we found in reality is that not all of that is born out in practice.

Dixon added there wasn’t a “particular logic” in the need to have a PSC to access some services, citing a plan from the department to make it a requirement if a person is making an appeal about school transport decisions. 

“And so we simply don’t think there is a coherent and clear picture presented to the public in relation to why this is required,” she said.

For the second and third findings, the commissioner has requested an implementation plan for corrective action from the department within the next six weeks. 

‘Expanding functions’

Prior to controversies around the card in recent years, the government had plans to expand the range of services for which the card would be compulsory. These proposals will have to be curtailed because of the results of the Data Protection Commissioner’s probe.

The spotlight was put firmly on the Public Services Card back in 2017, when the Irish Times reported that a woman had her pension cut because she refused to get a card.

Over the past three years, TheJournal.ie has also highlighted other cases such as when a woman was asked for an adoption cert when applying for a PSC; another where a woman was asked how long she’d been living with her partner when applying for one; and people even being denied one because they were adopted.

This swell of problems was happening as the Data Protection Commissioner began a probe into the card’s legality in late-2017.

90426581_90426581 Minister Paschal Donohoe posing with a card back in 2016 Leah Farrell / Rollingnews.ie Leah Farrell / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

Elsewhere, there has already been a u-turn on the need for a PSC for driving licences, after pressure over the legality and reasoning for the Road Safety Authority to require the card as proof of identity. TheJournal.ie reported that at least €2 million was ploughed into the PSC/driving licence project, before Shane Ross pulled the plug last year. 

The Data Protection Commissioner also noted that the original use of the card has been joined by other potential purposes, including using it as photo ID. 

Indeed, draft legislation from the government before the Dáil would mean the PSC could be used as a de-facto age card when purchasing alcohol

While Dixon noted such developments may appear benign, the Commissioner also expressed concern that allowing it to be accepted to confirm age by private entities would be a “very, very big step”. 

So what does this mean?

Essentially, the Data Protection Commissioner is now saying that the department has to stop all mandatory PSC registrations, except in cases where someone is seeking one for social welfare claims or benefits.

The department will also be required to delete all of the supporting documentation that it previously collected as part of the PSC application process.

The commissioner will also ask the department to address the deficits in how it has communicated to the public on this matter. 

In August 2017, for example, Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty made headlines when she told Newstalk Breakfast that the card is “mandatory” but not “compulsory”

It should be noted that the findings of this report do not impact anyone who has been issued a PSC card for the purposes of a social welfare payment, or anyone who uses their card for free travel, Dixon said. 

However, in cases where having a Public Services Card is mandatory to access a service other than those offered by the Department of Social Protection, that will now have to change.

For example, for an adult applying for a passport for the first time, the current policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs is that they need to have a Public Services Card.

Since that provision has been found to have no lawful basis, it will need to be amended. 

Dixon said this should happen immediately and has asked the Department of Social Protection to come back to her with a progress report within 21 days. 

Any services that required citizens to sign up for an online MyGovID – for which a PSC is required to sign up – will also have to amend their procedures to accept other valid forms of identification. 

Further progress on a separate part of the Commissioner’s probe into the Public Services Card, concerning MyGovID and other matters, remains ongoing.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, which has constantly raised concerns about the PSC, said that it welcomed the report from the Data Protection Commissioner.

It also said that it welcomed confirmation from the Department that they will publish the full report at the DPC’s direction within seven days. Its information rights manager Elizabeth Farries said:

The Minister for Social Protection has previously stated in the Oireachtas that either the Department or the DPC would release the report following this investigation. This moment has arrived, and we look forward to full disclosure from the Department.

The report is now with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Dixon added that there’s a “real public interest” in publishing it in full. 

With reporting from Cianan Brennan

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    Mute Chutes
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    Sep 26th 2024, 9:55 AM

    It’s Ireland, there will be loopholes in the loopholes!

    189
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    Mute Thomas Sheridan
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    Sep 26th 2024, 2:09 PM

    @Chutes: You do realise that there can be absolutely legitimate reasons for developers taking years to assemble viable land banks, and they then have to go through the planning process or perhaps wait for local infrastructure to be upgraded before turning a sod.
    So, if apartments can not be built already at a cost that people (other than government quangos) could afford to pay, how will more taxes help.

    26
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    Mute Chutes
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    Sep 26th 2024, 2:27 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan: Literally says it at the end there!
    “That would facilitate land to come on stream, and ultimately that would have an impact in terms of reducing the cost of housing and providing housing and that’s a key policy issue at the present time, to deliver as much housing as we can.”

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    Mute Thomas Sheridan
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    Sep 26th 2024, 3:01 PM

    @Chutes: coming on stream is not the same as ready to build and sell at affordable prices and taking taxes in between is just an added cost for the buyer to pay

    18
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    Mute Antony Stack
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    Sep 26th 2024, 4:44 PM

    @Chutes: You are right. The process is as follows.
    Farmer can sell land and buy two farms further our in line for increased value as city expands.
    Farmer does not have the know-how, contacts, and money to get his land re-zoned.
    Farmer sells to a developer who will hold the land (unzoned) for many years (could be decades).
    The land may be sold several times at increasing values between a succession of speculators who know the potentail value
    Eventually the developer will get planning consultant, architect, engineer etc to submit for re-zoning.
    Councillors are kept sweet. . Council officials are got onside. Rezoning is by vote of the Council. Land is now zoned, but it can be a long wait before building starts. The value is going up all the time, it’ better than money in the bank. That is why the are called land banks.
    The land can be sold a few more times, generally at increasing prices.
    If the system crashes, the state nationalises the losses (in the form of NAMA)
    Finally houses get built, then the council thinks about roads, sewer, water, amenity etc. This why it’s called developer lead development.

    Alternative fur Germany, Czech, Nederlands, Denmark and everybody else
    Council plans a new suburb or extension to a suburb, with transportation, water services, open space etc.
    Council buys the land from the farmer and sells it to builders.
    The ‘planning gain’ does not go to a succession of private owners.

    Why are we different? Because our Constitution gives priority to private property ownership over common good. Other countries have been so much affected by wars, they are used to putting the ‘common good’ first.

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    Mute Chutes
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    Sep 26th 2024, 4:46 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan: Did I make a point somewhere you felt needed to be countered?

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    Mute Sandy Seeteen
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    Sep 26th 2024, 6:28 PM

    @Antony Stack:

    Great points very well put

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    Mute Soundy Sound
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:00 AM

    I see USA are asking Israel to stop dropping the bombs they are supplying to them. Can they really not see how ridiculous this is?

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    Mute Buster Lawless
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:18 AM

    @Soundy Sound: well, a kinda pause….. Till after the US election….. After that, bomb away

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    Mute The Risen
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:38 AM

    @Soundy Sound: Nonce.

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    Mute Jonny Hellzapoppin
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:44 AM

    @The Risen: Is that Pádraig Pearse on your profile? A man who had a keen interest in young boys? And you’re dumb enough to fire words like that at people you disagree with because you haven’t the intelligence to construct a sentence

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    Mute The Risen
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:46 AM

    @Jonny Hellzapoppin: All lies.

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    Mute Darth O'Leary
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:22 AM

    @Jonny Hellzapoppin: That f**kwit has Pearce in his profile picture for trolling purposes only. There is precisely ZERO evidence of impropriety towards young boys on Pearce’s part. It was a rumour started by an anti-republican, revisionist historian

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    Mute sean weir
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    Sep 26th 2024, 1:15 PM

    @Jonny Hellzapoppin: well that’s bs

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    Mute Thomas Sheridan
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    Sep 26th 2024, 2:01 PM

    @Soundy Sound: Has anyone considered asking the terrorists in the ME to stop firing explosive rockets into Israel.

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    Mute Soundy Sound
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    Sep 26th 2024, 2:26 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan: yes, pretty much the whole western world has but they aren’t supplying them with weapons while asking them to stop.

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    Mute Alex
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    Sep 26th 2024, 3:32 PM

    @Soundy Sound: Let’s hope they keep dropping them until nothing is left.

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    Mute Brian D'Arcy
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    Sep 26th 2024, 4:34 PM

    @Alex: Ironic, I’m sure that you would have demanded that the Tans kept burning the towns and cities until the IRA were gone, of course not acknowledging, like Israel that the destruction is against ordinary people, but of course, a child will grow up to be a terrorist in your view, justifying them being killed and not asking why people join these paramilitary forces. Brains aren’t for everyone.

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    Mute Colin Mc
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:01 AM

    What a load of waffle. This will never be implemented. My family has been trying to build on land and and create jobs and homes for last 3 years and an board planaulla consistently refused. And now they want tax us.

    It’s all upside-down and inside out in this country.

    Shame on all local counsellors , td’s and ministers.

    Your no better then thather.

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Sep 26th 2024, 5:30 PM

    @Colin Mc: Its mad eh, still trying to shoot the same fish in the same barrel, year on year, Politicians are a big joke really, they do nothing ‘for’ us… the answer there own question in the article… ‘addressing land prices is “arguably the only way policymakers can significantly reduce the cost of supplying a house”, as most other cost elements, such as labour and materials, are broadly outside the control of the Government.’… buy a construction company, place controls on price gouging (Kilsaran etc)… they’ll never do it tho, because it equates to ‘work’… a lot easier to waffle on an pontificate, drop the odd tax. total bs.

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    Mute Joe McNamara
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:01 AM

    This proposed tax will not work. The ERSI are wrong. Ultimately, this will be a further tax ( & burden) on young people buying their first homes.

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    Mute Joe McNamara
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:18 AM

    @Joe McNamara: Also maybe these dreamers in the ERSI might talk to a few house builders. Site values are about 10% of the sale price of a 3- bed semi.
    To reduce now house sale prices the government can do the following
    1) eliminate VAT as in Northern Ireland 13.5 %
    2) change house builder funding rules to allow stage payments 11%
    3) omit state planning & connection charges 7%
    4) simplify BCAR (building control) 4%
    etc etc
    In Ireland the actual cost of consuming a new house is less that 50% of the sale price.

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    Mute Neuville-Kepler62F
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    Sep 26th 2024, 5:26 PM

    @Joe McNamara: Spot on. You can not have VAT or other “taxes/ levies” on basic needs like a house… as for food, water, education, medicine… Obscene.

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    Mute Paul H
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    Sep 26th 2024, 9:55 AM

    So tax the owner into selling their land makes sense actually.

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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:31 AM

    @Paul H: PRTB is already driving savings out of providing accommodation. This is another form of in effect nationalisation. We have one of the most left wing countries in the world already.

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    Mute brian o'leary
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:38 AM

    All land should be taxed as to its potential to encourage the owners to put it to propoer use or sell it to someone who can.

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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Sep 27th 2024, 8:14 AM

    @brian o’leary: You seem to see it like if you bring in a bar stool tax it will get longtime inactive people to work. Or if you buy a shovel instead of a snooker cue you are a bad person and should be punished.

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    Mute barry fay
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:02 AM

    There is plenty of zoned land with permission granted( despite NIMBY objections) its not about land or even money…. there are not enough workers to build… how many kids do you know taking up a trade…

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:50 AM

    @barry fay: very few these days. Most are taking the college option and not even looking at trades. I even see it in my nephews and nieces. The 2 oldest are sitting the leaving in next year, but are already preparing for college.
    Personally, I think it is more that the parents are pushing the college option on their kids because even though everyone now seems to be taking the college route, parents still see it as being more prestigious than a trade like it was when they themselves were that age, when only the select few went to college, and the closest the rest of us got to it was block release to the local RTC

    17
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    Mute Brian D'Arcy
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    Sep 26th 2024, 4:28 PM

    Comments closed on Donohue’s telephone conversation that ‘never happened because he didn’t note it in his diary’, a call that no-one was supposed to know about and yet the Occupied Territories bill still not acted on, all I need to know.

    20
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    Mute Hunt Ley
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    Sep 26th 2024, 1:40 PM

    Too much corruption and kickbacks with local politicians and civil servants

    22
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    Mute Vince Cable
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:23 AM

    Kevin Kerr shot JFK.

    21
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    Mute Julio's Evil Twin
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    Sep 26th 2024, 2:00 PM

    I’d rather put a haltin’ site on my land, than give in to this communist behavior..

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    Mute Name
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    Sep 26th 2024, 5:13 PM

    @Julio’s Evil Twin: funny you say that. Henry George and Milton Friedman supported land taxes, calling them the “least bad taxes”. Hardly commies, weren’t they?

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    Mute Julio's Evil Twin
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    Sep 26th 2024, 7:55 PM

    @Name: “land taxes are least bad taxes:… as they’re a way to increase wealth..”.

    Regardless of the Communists, I don’t wish to use my private property to increase my wealth..
    .
    My will is made, you’re probably one of those poor folk who want to tax inheritance to the max.. saying its ‘tax free money’ or something .. smh
    .

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    Mute Dramafree 2023
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    Sep 26th 2024, 3:56 PM

    This is nearly comical. Have been involved in the purchase/sale of a piece of land. 6 weeks to get preplanninig meeting…. this is now entering month 3 for a formal reply on the preplanning. Sale will surely fall throu before all that happens and then owner will get taxed… seriously! sort the planning first before the taxes!

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    Mute Darth O'Leary
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    Sep 26th 2024, 11:36 AM

    CPO all planter land for 1c and allow these descendents of thieves to keep their house and 1acre of their ill-gotten gain. Being in possession of stolen property is a crime

    16
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    Mute Tom Newell
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    Sep 26th 2024, 4:24 PM

    Maybe the ESRI could ask for the removal of the exception on banks paying tax on profits

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    Mute Colin Mc
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    Sep 26th 2024, 10:59 AM

    What a load of horse shit. This will never be implemented. My family has been trying to build on said land and create jobs and homes for last 3 years and an board planaulla consistently refused. And now they want tax us.

    It’s all upside-down and inside out in this country.

    Shame on all local counsellors , td’s and ministers.

    Your no better then thather

    30
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    Mute Padraig O'Brien
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    Sep 26th 2024, 12:22 PM

    Tax this custodians of the land?
    Hahahahahaha!

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    Mute hans vos
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    Sep 26th 2024, 5:06 PM

    Don’t expect that soon. The government and their cronies don’t give up their windfalls that easy.

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