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THE HEAD OF the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has said the controversial Public Services Card, which is the only ID accepted for the driver theory test, will help reduce the number of fraudulent licence applications.
The card has been under the spotlight recently after a number of stories of people losing out on public services because they do not have one. There is no legal requirement for Irish citizens to hold the card, but in order to access welfare benefits, the Department of Social Protection requires applicants to have one.
Yesterday, Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty said the card is not compulsory – but it is mandatory for her department.
I know some people might say I’m splitting hairs. But actually because of the high value of the public services that the Department of Social Protection gives, we give out over €20 billion every year.
“We believe that it’s not too much to ask people to authenticate who you are, so that we can give you fast and efficient public service so that we get what you’re entitled, to and that’s all this safe process is,” she told Newstalk Breakfast.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, RSA chief executive Moyagh Murdock said it was now government policy that the authority use the Public Service Card. Currently, it is required for anyone applying for the driver theory test, but this is expected to be extended to the full driving licence.
“It’s important to remember that a driving licence is not a right, it is actually a permit to drive, you’re given a permit so having the correct identity and issuing someone with a licence, there are significant road safety issues associated with that,” Murdock said. “It’s very important in enforcement of road traffic legislation that you have the right licence and you are the right person on that licence so we are following government policy.”
I know there are some concerns out there, but we are starting at the theory tests and people can apply and there’s a great turnaround with the public services card in the DSP (Department of Social Protection) offices so we hopefully see it running smoothly.
Murdock said that since the new plastic licence card was introduced in 2013, the number of fraudulent licence applications has “dropped significantly”. In order to get this licence, drivers have to present themselves in person to a National Driver Licence Service centre.
“We have filtered out quite a number of people trying to apply for a licence when they’re not entitled to one. That’s just through the actual face-to-face identity mechanism that we have in place,” Murdock explained.
“It certainly is helping, because if someone is out there driving with a licence that they’re not entitled to there are road safety issues with that. Too many people are impacted and injured and killed by people who are driving when they shouldn’t have been driving. If they are fraudulently getting a licence then we have to do something about that,” she added.
The Department of Social Protection also issued a detailed statement yesterday evening, outlining the services which require the Public Services Card:
“The Public Services Card (PSC) is precisely that, a card for accessing public services. It helps customers access a range of public services easily,” the department said.
The user’s identity is fully authenticated when it is issued so they do not have to give the same information to multiple organisations. It was first introduced in 2011 and was initially rolled out to people getting social welfare payments. It is now being rolled out to other public services.
Yesterday the Green Party accused the government of “bringing in mandatory identity cards for Irish citizens,” the party’s technology spokesperson councillor Ossian Smyth said.
“Five years ago, this scheme was passed off as a handy replacement for the free travel pass and the social welfare card. Now Fine Gael says that anyone without a National ID card will be denied the right to renew a passport, denied the right to renew a drivers licence and denied any welfare payments.”
“It is ludicrous for Minister Regina Doherty to say that these cards are not ‘compulsory’ – but that they are ‘mandatory’ for anyone who wants a passport, a driver’s licence or to receive child benefit.”
Fianna Fáil Senator Catherine Ardagh also called for a debate in the Houses of the Oireachtas on the issue.
“The use of biometric data being incorporated into the public services card in order to seemingly eliminate the possibility of fraud and to improve the efficiency of public services will bring personal rights into sharper focus,” she said in a statement.
“It is therefore essential that both houses of the Oireachtas are provided with an opportunity to debate and consider the possible human rights and/or data protection implications of introducing such a system of national ID cards.
“There are a number of plausible arguments for and against and many will wish to vigorously challenge the possible infringements on one’s privacy. We must determine if the concept of mandatory identity cards challenges the inalienable right to individual privacy which is protected by the Constitution.”
“This is a huge step to take without asking the public first – and the first way they are being used is to deny rights to citizens.”
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I have to say fair play to Mary Lou. I hope this is a further step in building better relations with our British neighbours across the water
@Sean Treacy: It’s help if the current leaders of the neighbours across the water were reasonable and genuine… But truth be told the Torys have obliterated the relationship on an official level.
@FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: it’d*
@Sean Treacy: I agree, and for once I can’t disagree with her, it’s a great gesture
@Sean Treacy: agreed, FairPlay ML. If we are ever to have a border poll these gestures need to be more frequent and meaningful.
@FiannaFáilness FineGaelness: TYR!!TS
@Sean Treacy: somehow I feel it has more to do with building better relations with our neighbours on this side of the water!
@Angela McCarthy: It’s neither, just pretending they are grown ups with shallow, meaningless utterances. Earlier in the week, her party put out another celebration of killers getting killed (this time a guy kidnapping a dog warden). Anyone who thinks this is anything but a front to unionists that SF are somehow tolerant is going to be sorely mistaking.
@Jaime: You don’t seem like you have an axe to grind at all. They’re the most popular party in the country. Time you swallowed that
@Jaime: but I’m sure her gesture to the queen of England will more than compensate for the killing of Mountbatten.
@Sean Treacy: Agree. Well done Mary lou
@John Mulligan: ye john. Lets not forget jimmy saville and Epsteine too
@John Mulligan: Monuntbatten the Paedophile!
Well bridges have to be built, no better person to do that other than Mary Lou McDonald.
@Declan Carr: Agreed 100% It’s great to see Mary Lou doing this, mind you I seem to remember Martin McGuinness shaking the Queen’s hand a number of years ago so this mightn’t be as groundbreaking as some excitable posters might have us believe.
@Declan Carr: Well Boris wants to build a bridge and a tunnel – to Scotland. he’s currently digging his way out of no 10,
@Declan Carr: Do you do stand-up comedy as well Declan, or is it just written satire?
@Justin Gillespie: Nothing wrong with your memory, Martin did shake hands with the Queen. I didn’t mention him, this is all about Mary Lou today.
@Angela McCarthy: I don’t think Boris will ever get the chance to build an orange bridge.
@Eoin Roche: scarlet for you
@Declan Carr: really!!
This is the leadership we need. Fair play to Mary Lou.
@padar: the leadership we need? Really?
@Disco Inferno:probably better than the leadership we have at the moment. So yeah. Really!!!!
@Paul Gorry: nah she is not the leadership we need at all. The leadership we currently have is far superior to this failed Fianna Fáil member.
@Frankie J: I thought all FF’ers were failures?
@Angela McCarthy: hardly, they’re still in government despite the apparent own goal shinners have.
Hard to have anything but respect for this particular queen of England, dropped into presiding over a dying empire aged 25 and just kept on rolling… I just hope she writes a biography before she snuffs it, you just know her thoughts on Boris and some other PMs are going to be absolute gold!
@Nameo Maximus: could not care less
@Philip foster: why comment on it then?, move on to the next article that interests you.
@Paul Gorry: are you a royalist?
@Philip foster: “could not care less”
If that was true you wouldn’t have responded.
@Nameo Maximus: She is not permitted to make political statements and it’s highly unlikely she would publish her thoughts on individual politicians she’s dealt with in her time. What I would like to see is an apology from her for what her government and armed forces did and continue to do to Irish people in their own country. Not “things could have been done differently”. Her country is responsible for millions of Irish deaths and must formally apologise before the world for its myriad war crimes in Ireland. Surely, we should work at repairing the relationship with England, but not to the point of obsequious subservience. We Irish are every bit as good as the British. I would argue that in many ways we are better, as neither Ireland nor its people ended the lives of over 200 million people [which Britain did during its empire period], simply to enrich the British capitalist élite. The old saying that “a fool is the Irish person who trusts the British” is as apt today as ever it was.
Mary Lou is the queen bee. Fair play mary.
now that’s progress
Wee Jeffrey and Sammy Wilson what you going to say now or will you just stop walking the Queens Highway.
@Joe Johnson: How is Jeffrey and the No – No’s going to respond to this with an election looming? Very loud silence I’d say.
Saint Mary Lou McDonald. Give me a break.
@Andy Dillon: And who was the person who called her ‘Saint Mary Lou’ Andy?
@Andy Dillon: she’ll be getting nominated for the Nobel Peace PriZe next !!
@ Justin Gillespie,
It’s pretty obvious from most of your comments where your loyalties (lie) ,keep up cheerleading for every political opponent of the Shinners.
Hopefully all your children can buy a home for themselves someday and hopefully you never get ill and have to depend on social welfare and in fairness what Mary Lou said was very generous especially to people who lived during the so called (troubles)in Ulster and indeed on the island.
@Paul Mc: Mary Lou for Taosieach 1
@Paul Mc: The hatred is strong in this one.
@Paul Mc: No pleasing some people, I commended Mary Lou for what she did and still the moaners moan.
I make no secret of the fact that I am not a Shinner, I am not alone in that just as there are loads of people who are.
I don’t slavishly support any political party and would be the first to say that the present governments record in housing and health is brutal.
I just don’t think a SF government would be any better in fact I think it would be calamitous for the country.
I may well be wrong, I suspect we will find out soon.
@David Corrigan: Indeed the hatred is high here. You can tell Mary Lou has hit a cord and done something right here, to bring them all out of woodwork. ha Ha
You can picture their faces upon reading the headline first. A few burst blood vessels and smashed keyboards. lol
She’s laying the ground work for when she is Taoiseach. Smart move Lou Lou.
Good gesture.
Well done Mary Lou
The leader of a so-called republican party praises a hereditary monarch and we think it’s a good thing?
Her lifetime of service consists of cutting ribbons, handing out awards, and being waited on hand and foot at one of her many palaces. Good grief!
@Lesidees: go and read a bit she’s done so much more . Ignorance is bliss
Why care about anything British
@Philip foster: Because we have too Philip.
@Paul Gorry: “to”
Definitely one of the best Monarchs they ever had, and they’ve had some doozies. Elizabeth the first, Henry the Eighth, Victoria. They’ve had a fair few nutters in their time alright.
Well done MLMcD. Take the high road.
But isn’t it strange how the name Bunting is so hunish??
She must be looking for a knighthood
Step forward Dame Mary
Eeh …..careful with that sword Lizzie.
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