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

Nobody has been sanctioned in Tusla for serious data breaches being investigated by the Data Protection Commissioner, it has emerged.

Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon has said that while some of the risks posed by data breaches in Tusla have been mitigated “clearly there is still a lot to be done”.

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.

More than 6,700 data breaches were reported to the Data Protection Commission in 2019, the second highest level per head of population in Europe.

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.

One of Ireland’s top ultra-runners has gone the distance to win one of the world’s toughest endurance races.

His department had previously released figures including the individual payments to barristers acting on its behalf in the Apple case, but stopped after the introduction of new European data rules, known as GDPR.

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

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs was ordered to make the public services card (PSC) the only way for people to access the new National Childcare Scheme as it did “not make sense” for the department to be allowed to develop its own application system.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has yet to reply to a request by the data protection commissioner for “certain information” regarding the new National Childcare Scheme and the Public Services Card, despite that request being made nearly two weeks ago.

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.

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 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 Dáil has heard the case of a young woman who was propositioned by her landlord for sex in return to live rent-free in her bedsit.

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.

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.

Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty's position in the Cabinet has been called into question by the Social Democrats over the public services card scandal.

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 Government’s decision to challenge the Data Protection Commissioner’s highly adversarial rulings on the Public Services Card has been condemned as “ludicrous” and “incredibly bizarre”.

The Public Services Card (PSC) will be the only way by which parents can access the new National Childcare Scheme when it goes live in October, despite a ruling from the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) that the card is unlawful when applied to State services other than welfare.

There seems no end to the trouble being caused to Fine Gael by what we might term, for the purposes of this column, the “little people”.

A report which ruled that the expansion of the State’s Public Services Card (PSC) is illegal will not be published by the Department of Social Protection until such time as “a full consideration of the report is complete”.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe was briefed on an interim report of an investigation by the Data Protection Commissioner into the public services card a year ago, it has emerged.

A number of the bodies involved in the Public Services Card expansion have said they will be talking to the Department of Social Protection on how best to approach the Data Protection Commissioner's recent adverse ruling in relation to the card.

"There is a certain convenience in collating a person's data like this, but it has to be balanced with a person's privacy," said Willie O'Dea.

The Data Protection Commission found there was NO legal basis for the issuing of PSCs for the purposes of transactions between individuals and state bodies other than the Department of Social Protection.

The State could be facing multimillion euro payouts after it was found to have illegally retained the personal data of 3.2m people in the rollout of its Public Services Card (PSC).

Is it possible that the botched introduction of water charges is to lose its blue riband status as the most spectacular failure in public administration this century?

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, faced calls for her resignation last night as the fallout from the Data Protection Commissioner’s investigation into the Public Services Card continued.