THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection has acknowledged that there is no legal basis for people to be compelled to get a Public Services Card for anything other than social welfare payments and benefits.
The DPC also welcomes the Department’s acknowledgment that, in the absence of legislation making specific provision for this, other public sector bodies cannot compel any individual to acquire a PSC as a precondition to the provision of access to public services.
The Department had defended its right to process personal data related to the PSC, saying it had a “strong legal basis” to do so. “Under the agreement, it is acknowledged that the Department of Social Protection can continue to process personal data to authenticate a person’s identity and issue them with a PSC, which can be used for the purposes of accessing public services, both those provided by the Department and those provided by other public bodies,” the Department said in a statement.
Expect more of this kinda thing for cert s and lockdown s in the years to come