A new identity card being developed for social welfare recipients is to be expanded to include users of a range of other State services - and possibly even private sector services, it has emerged.
The new, electronic "smart cards" are being developed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to verify identity and carry information on the range of social services for which the holder qualifies.
In advance of the distribution of the cards next year, it has emerged that the department is working on plans to incorporate services such as the free travel scheme, the Garda age verification scheme and potentially even to add private sector services.
According to a call for tenders published on the Government's e-tendering website, private sector involvement in cards "may be supported". The documentation adds "as a general principle, potentially sensitive data will not be held on the card/token".
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Family Affairs said the requirement was that cards would be designed so "eventually any service provider will be able to use the card".
The spokeswoman said the first application would be to replace the existing non-electronic social welfare cards which carried the name and PPS number. To this would be added details of the holder's level of social welfare qualification. She said the next application which it was hoped to add was the qualification for free travel, while another obvious application was the Garda national age verification scheme.
Other examples of State services which could make use of the card would be the health services Drugs Refund Scheme.
"In theory it could be used by revenue," she said, adding that "it would be up to service providers whether they chose to go with us".
Cards are to be designed within a "standard authentication framework environment" known as "Safe" which enables a range of actions from simple door opening to the payment of welfare benefits.
Other stakeholders in service provision, such as departmental staff, may also have cards which can be used to identify them and grant them variable levels of access to records and technology.
Once qualified for State services - by, for example, a means test - notice of that qualification would be held on an electronic "token" recorded on the card.
The tender documentation makes it clear that the card must be "designed to evolve over time" and not be limited to social services.
One obvious private sector application would be in simple payments where credit is purchased in advance on a smart card, such as the purchase of electronic tokens for Luas travel.
