THE PUBLIC SERVICES Card (PSC) has been to the forefront of Ireland’s news headlines in recent weeks with the emergence of stories of Irish citizens having their State benefits placed in jeopardy due to an unwillingness to sign up for the card.
The government has been making inroads into its plan to expand the card from its current remit for Department of Social Protection-related benefits into other State services such as driving test applications and passport renewals. Many of you reading this will already have one – some 2.8 million PSCs have been distributed since the card’s inception in 2012.
On the one hand some have claimed that in expanding the card’s functions the current administration is effectively attempting to introduce a biometric national ID card by stealth without passing the necessary legislation in order to do so.
The other side to the discussion is that the entire argument is making something of a mountain out of a political molehill – that there is no ill-intent behind the expansion of the PSC, that it doesn’t constitute an ID, and that the Irish people aren’t bothered by it in the slightest.
So, we’re going to discuss the Public Services Card situation in a live video on our Facebook page on Tuesday evening, 5 September, at 5pm.
In advance of this we want to hear what your concerns, if any, about the PSC are, or whether or not you think it’s a good idea. On both sides of the debate, both passionately against and 100% in favour (not to mention all of you who are undecided or have no firm opinion on the subject), we want to hear what you have to say.
For tomorrow’s debate we’ll have Digital Rights Ireland’s Simon McGarr and Irish Times columnist Noel Whelan in the office to give us their take on the issue.
You can read a little bit more about the Public Services Card and what it entails here.
Meanwhile, have you got a question about the PSC you’d like answered or a story you want heard? Get in touch in the comments section below, email cianan@thejournal.ie or keep an eye out for the Facebook Live from 5pm on Tuesday and get your questions in on our Facebook page.
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