Plans for a national swipe card containing personal information to be used by people in their dealings with State bodies could break privacy laws, the Cabinet has been warned.
The card would contain contact details, personal public numbers (PPNs), social welfare details, drugs payment details and would stop people having to supply the same information repeatedly to State bodies.
However, the card could go further and become the platform for a national identity card - along the lines currently being proposed in the United Kingdom - containing fingerprints and a record of a person's iris. Officials at the Department of Social and Family affairs have been working on the "Safe" project - "Standard Authentication Framework Environment" - for the past 18 months.
However, Social and Family Affairs officials have so far been unable to find a way to ensure that State bodies are able to access only the information they need to deal with an individual's case. Under the Data Protection Act, electronically-stored information about members of the public cannot be shared between agencies, while the citizen also has the right to inspect and correct any such information.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell yesterday sounded more cautious about the need to follow the UK if it goes ahead with plans to introduce biometric ID cards. The Government had to balance the interests of security, privacy, the cost and the relationship between gardaí and the community, he said.