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Department boss says he's 'satisfied' the Public Services Card rollout is value for money

The Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection is due before the PAC today.

CLARITY OVER THE legality of the Public Services Card (PSC) may be sought in the Circuit Court, according to the Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection. 

The department’s boss, John McKeon, will tell the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee today that it has yet to receive an enforcement notice from the Data Protection Commission.

In August, the Data Protection Commissioner said that its report into the legality of the card had found no lawful basis for the mandatory use of the PSC aside from welfare payments, and also found the State was unlawfully retaining the information of millions of people who applied for the card.

The government has said it doesn’t accept the findings of the DPC and won’t be implementing any of its findings.

In light of that, the DPC will have to initiate enforcement action to try to compel the government to comply, which may end up in a court battle.

In his opening statement to the committee, the secretary general states that “a difference of opinion between the Department and the Data Protection Commission” remains.

He says the department and the DPC are both “anxious” that matters are “clarified and resolved as soon as possible in accordance with the process set down by the Oireachtas”.

Enforcement notice

“We therefore await receipt of an Enforcement Notice, and subject to what it might say, may seek the necessary clarity in the circuit court. We hope that this process can be completed expeditiously,” McKeon states.

In terms of value for money, the secretary general defends the PSC, stating that he is satisfied that the PSC “has created the basis for improved service delivery, reduced administrative costs and has also enhanced control savings”. 

Previously committee members questioned why there is no business case document for rolling out the card. 

“The committee is already aware from its review of this matter in 2016 that there is no single business case document. While as I have indicated in my letter of last week, this is regrettable it should not be taken as evidence that the project was not planned or executed properly,” he states.

Appearing before the PAC in September alongside the Data Protection Commissioner, Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, said that the fact the PSC had no business case “just makes it much more difficult to manage a project in a value-for-money way”.

However, McKeon will today tell the committee that having reviewed the costs and benefits associated with the project, he is “satisfied” that PSC has been worthwhile. 

The cost 

He confirms in his opening statement that the total fully allocated costs of the project to date are €67.7 million. However, he states that a large proportion of these costs would have been incurred even if the PSC process was never introduced.

“This is because the department always sought to authenticate the identity of people claiming its services and issued identity tokens in the form of pension books, social services cards and free travel passes.

“The SAFE process formalised this approach, established a consistent approach across all of our offices and introduced a higher more secure standard of identity token in the form of a PSC, incorporating a photograph of the person,” says McKeon.

“If a conservative allowance is made, as it properly should be, for the counterfactual, or already existing costs, then the actual additional costs of the SAFE/PSC process, over the past nine years are, at most, approximately €37 million,” says the secretary general, adding that “set against these costs are the benefits of the improved process”. 

The improvements include administrative efficiencies within the department, reduced payment leakage due to error or fraud, the deterrence and prevention of fraud and  improved customer service, he states. 

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    Mute Lydia McLoughlin
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    Nov 7th 2019, 9:53 AM

    I thought there was a the question as to whether this card was legal not value for money!! If it isnt legal then its not value for money.

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    Mute Margaret Kane
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    Nov 7th 2019, 9:31 AM

    It’s a waste of taxpayers money but then this government doesn’t care how they spend taxpayers money

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Nov 7th 2019, 8:45 AM

    I banged that into Google Translate but I’m none the wiser…

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Nov 7th 2019, 9:00 AM

    @jamesdecay: dont think anyone is. Huge waste of money .

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    Mute Jean Farrelly
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:41 AM

    Why are they sending out renewal forms to people who are not on social benefits telling them their card is about too expire . How much is that costing???

    47
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    Mute Commentator
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    Nov 7th 2019, 9:38 AM

    Why didn’t they just print your photo on the old booklet or card, 37 million saved.

    42
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    Mute Michael Patrick Newell
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    Nov 7th 2019, 11:12 AM

    Very simple the card is only needed if you are claiming a benefit from the state, other than that it isn’t needed unless they would like to be actually honest and upfront about actual purpose of this card and then make sure they have gone through the proper legal chan…….oh wait thats what caused this mess to start with they didn’t check their own fine print and GDPR went out the window. This card isn’t catching made up dole cheats and fraudsters from Leo sock monster false ad campaign, instead it could eventually cost the state a lot in legal challenges cos once again these muppets we put in charge can’t even grasp simple legal issues and box ticking exercises when bringing something like this out

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    Mute gerardfleming
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:37 AM

    I got my Card 3 years ago and its valid till 2023. Yesterday I got another card in the post. Exactly the same expiry date. WTF are these people doing?

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    Mute Vin
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:22 AM

    I have no issue with this card being mandatory for people who claim benefits for obvious fraud reasons. None whatsoever. It would catch a lot of people out.

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:27 AM

    @Vin: oddly enough that was the plan. But it hasn’t returned anything like the savings they perhaps thought as regards fraud. Assuming that was the only plan, of course.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:41 AM

    @jamesdecay: what they found as it was being rolled out claims stopped in areas when the card was required. They can’t report that as fraud as they weren’t caught. It has saved more than the basic figure and has prevented fraud.

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:48 AM

    @Craic_a_tower: none of which is a problem. The issue here was serious mission creep.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Nov 7th 2019, 10:58 AM

    @jamesdecay: I think people are overly worried and there are people actively lying to make people scared of a very simple convenience. There are people claiming there is a central database and biometric data with access for the Gardai. Reality is it is a shared ID system nothing more and no requirement to carry it at all times yet people call it a national ID. It shouldn’t be mandatory outside social welfare but that is a minor issue which isn’t actually the case of it mandatory for anything else

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Nov 7th 2019, 11:59 AM

    @Craic_a_tower: minor issue? Insisting on it for passports and driving licenses amongst other things? We’re all grown ups here, so I think we could have a grown up debate about the card. That hasn’t happened yet.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Nov 7th 2019, 12:15 PM

    @jamesdecay: they didn’t insist on it for passports or driving licences that is the point. It is a minor issue because it never happened. I agree it shouldn’t be mandatory for other services out of social welfare and it never has been. It should be however usable in these services if you choose to use it. What is the problem now?

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Nov 7th 2019, 12:20 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: sorry, but that is plain wrong. I was refused a passport because I didn’t have a PSC. I was made to wait about 9 months before they relented and then, only after the initial report from the DPC came out. And now, I suspect, they may change their minds again.

    I agree there may be some scaremongering and we both seem to agree that the card was designed for one purpose. But it would appear some senior civil servants don’t agree with either of us.

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    Mute William Kelly
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    Nov 7th 2019, 7:44 PM

    @Vin: and would track & trace those who exist in the grey edges of our society, for criminal & other dubious reasons.
    As a society, we must support the system to know who lives here,to enforce & apply the law generally, not only in social welfare matters.
    The objectors need to get real, & not ignore the facts of life in today’s world of random terrorism, vast criminal underworlds, people smuggling & prostitution rings.

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    Mute Chris Hennessy
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    Nov 7th 2019, 11:10 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: I was told I needed one for driving license renewal. It was only after a concerted campaign by Digital Rights Ireland that the requirement was actually removed. This card is sinister. There were actually documents released where it was shown that the government had a particular problem getting ‘young, single , employed men’s to sign up. That’s what led to the driving license debacle. This demographic is the least reliant on government services

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    Mute Eileen Doherty
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    Nov 8th 2019, 6:17 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: its Heart breaking that the bankers or goverment officials didnt or dont have to hold a card to prevent fruad !

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    Mute dick dastardly
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    Nov 7th 2019, 12:58 PM

    Of course his going to say that,sure who pays his nice wages.thats right s government job

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    Mute ed w
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    Nov 7th 2019, 11:18 AM

    council were making appointments during working hours for working people mine was cancelled due to storm Emma (I was at work) no way of rescheduling for a convenient time. no public in public service in this country.

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    Mute Niall Nordell
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    Nov 7th 2019, 3:06 PM

    The reason I suspect why there is no project plan for the expenditure of €37m (so far) is that it was always the intention that this card would act as a National Identity Card through the back door.

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    Mute For Goodness Sake
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    Nov 7th 2019, 3:38 PM

    @Niall Nordell: Have you evidence of this.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Nov 9th 2019, 1:30 AM

    Another bit to hide old news about a subject with new different talk about it… As only people remember the last story about a subject not the important stuff?

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