PSC the only access to subsidies as paper applications not in place

It is believed the DPC's concerns surrounded the potential for the data to be used in targeted political advertising in the wake of the election.

The Irish Government needs to be aware of the “trade-offs” resulting from tighter regulation of harmful online communication, a senior Facebook official has said.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has updated its key data protection policy with regard to the Public Services Card on foot of a negative report regarding the card carried out by the Data Protection Commissioner, Helen Dixon.

It is in relation to the transparency of users information.

Internal departmental records show how it expected to go up to €60m over budget in 2019 because of the rise in applications for international protection.

Regina Doherty said that the appeal is necessary as “the cost of not appealing would be absolutely enormous to the State, and not just in terms of finances”.

The minister with responsibility for the controversial Public Services Card has said her Department’s appeal of an enforcement notice will “hopefully” be completed by March.

GDPR hovers over the continuing standoff between a government department and the Data Protection Commission, writes Cianan Brennan.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has officially appealed the enforcement notice served upon it regarding the Public Services Card by the Data Protection Commissioner.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs was advised by a data protection consultancy not to use the Public Services Card as a mandatory requirement for accessing the new National Childcare Scheme as to do so would risk breaching the constitutional rights of children.

It’s hard to escape the feeling that Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty’s appearance before her own Oireachtas committee yesterday was anything but an embarrassing car crash for her personally.

A stormy meeting on the controversial Public Services Card this morning saw Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty say her department would take their objection to accusations of illegality levelled at the card “as far as it takes to vindicate our position”.

“I’m advised that we are operating within the law, I believe we are operating within the law.”

The Data Protection Commissioner has said she does not have enough resources to regulate multinational companies based in Ireland such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter having secured ‘significantly less’ Government funding than she had requested.

The head of the department with primary responsibility for the Public Services Card project has agreed that it would have been “preferable” if a full business case had been prepared for it at its inception.

The Government now finds itself at odds with commissioner Helen Dixon’s agency for the second time in less than a year.

This administration, albeit in an earlier iteration, promised that openness, that active accountability would become a characteristic of our public life.

A leading European expert on digitisation and the right to privacy has described the responsibility of Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner in regulating tech multinationals as being “disproportionate”.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection did not share the interim adversarial findings of the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) regarding the Public Services Card (PSC) with any affected bodies apart from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. This was despite being specifically asked and in a position to do so.

One of the country’s top civil servants has defended the public services card (PSC), saying the “value” of the project is “often misunderstood”.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) is facing a possible investigation and potential €1m fines over the mandatory requirement to hold a public services card in order to access the new National Childcare Scheme.

Transport Minister Shane Ross has denied he received any advice from the Attorney General before deciding to pull the Public Services Card (PSC) as a requirement for getting a driving licence, despite saying the opposite on the Dáil record last year.

An alternative method for applying for the new National Childcare Scheme online, other than the public services card, was dramatically dropped on the advice of a State body with responsibility for the card’s expansion in January 2018.

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection has been called upon to release the legal advice she received on the Public Services Card at a stormy Dáil session this evening.

The Public Services Card will be the only way for parents to claim childcare benefits from late October, despite the Taoiseach claiming that “an option will be available” for those who do not wish to register for a card.

The Government is goading the Data Protection Commissioner into taking it to court, mostly as a delaying tactic, says Michael Clifford

The controversy over the Public Services Card appears to be unspooling on a public relations basis, rather than a legal one, writes Cianan Brennan.

The Passport Office will no longer require a person to have a Public Services Card to acquire a passport, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

Ministers Regina Doherty and Paschal Donohoe made the comment following the publication of the Data Protection Commission’s report.

The Government’s policy of retaining its citizens’ personal information upon registration for a Public Services Card has no impact with regard to preventing welfare fraud, the PSC’s original purpose.

Fianna Fáil has ramped up the pressure on Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty to publish the Data Protection Commissioner’s highly adversarial report on the Public Services Card.

By their actions shall we know them. The handling by the Government of the public service card (PSC) saga speaks volumes for how it governs.

The Department of Social Protection’s rejection of the recent highly critical findings of the Data Protection Commissioner regarding the Public Services Card has been struck a perhaps fatal blow with the news that the Commissioner will not be engaging further with them.

The Data Protection Commissioner is set to respond by the end of this week to the Department of Social Protection over its decision to challenge the commissioner’s rulings on the Public Services Card.

Questioning the Data Protection Commissioner’s judgment gives lie to the contempt with which the State holds privacy rights and the office itself, writes Cianan Brennan

The Data Protection Commissioner is set to respond by the end of this week to the Department of Social Protection over its decision to challenge the Commissioner’s rulings on the Public Services Card.