Covid, PSCs and Access to Social Welfare
Update: The government has now provided a one-page Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment form that you can print and fill in on paper, or fill out online if you have a PSC. This will facilitate an immediate payment for up to six weeks. However, you will …
DRI and ICCL Call for Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to Suspend PSC Requirement for Jobseeker Applicants During COVID-19 Pandemic
15 March, Dublin — Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) today called for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) to suspend the unnecessary requirement for a Public Services Card for the thousands of applicants seeking social …
#No2PSC Update for October
We’ve sent our first monthly update out to the hundreds of Public Services Card holders who have signed up as parties to our #No2PSC complaint to the Data Protection Commission. Briefly: The complaint is drafted and has been sent to the DPC with the first …
DRI Launches #no2psc Legal Campaign Against Public Services Card
Civil Rights Advocacy Group Leads Ireland’s First “Mass Action” Legal Campaign DUBLIN, 25 September — Digital Rights Ireland, the public advocacy organisation dedicated to defending civil, human and legal rights in a digital age, has today launched the #no2psc Campaign at https://no2psc.digitalrights.ie/. “The Public Services …
Reddit AMA on the Public Services Card
We’re delighted that DRI’s Antoin O Lachtnain will be hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit’s r/Ireland today from 12pm – 3pm to answer questions about the Public Services Card, why we oppose it, and our new #no2psc campaign officially launching later today. The …
Stop upload filter censorship – oppose the Copyright Directive
The European Parliament will vote on the Copyright Directive this week, on 26 March 2019. Over 100,000 Europeans went on the street to protest at the weekend. Article 17 (formerly Article 13) is the most contentious part of the proposed Directive. It provides for automated filtering …
Tusla: questions to answer about data protection
Under Article 37.1 of the GDPR, all public bodies are required to have a Data Protection Officer (a DPO). The DPO is the person in the organization who is charged with ensuring the organization complies with data protection legislation. For organisations with large databases of …
Time for Ireland’s Data Protection Commission to step up on Google Location Tracking
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has said it is not investigating Google in relation to the secret tracking of the location of Android users, despite Google’s EU headquarters being located in Dublin. The DPC claims that because of some paperwork delay on Google’s part in ‘incorporating …
Applying for a passport? You don’t need a Public Services Card.
A Public Services Card is not required to get a passport, although the Passport Office website incorrectly suggests that it is. A member of the public, Mr A, recently approached us. He wanted to travel abroad on a family holiday but his passport had expired …
DPC investigation into Public Services Card
We welcome the Data Protection Commissioner’s decision to extend her investigation into the Public Services Card. The Commissioner’s investigation is unprecedented in the Irish public sector. The card is essentially a national identity card. The database that lies behind it is an unofficial national population …
Tell your TD to stop the PSC becoming a private sector ID card
We’re sorry to have to keep banging on about the Public Services Card. But this is important, and urgent. One of the few limits on the PSC becoming a national ID card is a section which makes it an offence for private bodies to use …
Taoiseach rejects linking of ‘Public Services Card’ to social media
Should your PSC be linked to your social media account? Jim Daly, an Irish government minister thinks so. After DRI solicitor, Simon McGarr intervened in a TV debate, The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) has firmly rejected the plan, saying “the Government has no plans to link the …
