Parents cannot ‘withhold kids’ PPS numbers’

Parents have been told they will be unable to withhold their children’s PPS numbers from a controversial new Department of Education database as the information will be found from the Department of Social Protection instead.

The new primary online database (POB) requires that primary schools hand over PPS numbers for all their pupils, to be held by the department and shared with other state agencies until the ‘child’ is 30 years old.

However, not all primary schools collect PPS numbers when enrolling pupils and, in cases where parents are asked but refuse to provide the information, the department has said it will use the mother’s name to seek the child’s number through Social Protection.