Sir, – Your editorial on a national identity card makes the point that the Department of Social Protection does not necessarily accept a passport as proof of identity ("Beware mission creep", August 25th).
Heretofore I believed that a passport was the ultimate proof of identity and that nothing could supersede it.
If our own Government won’t accept our passport, how can we then object if a foreign government also refuses to recognise our passport? – Yours, etc,
PAVEL MARIANSKI,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
Sir, – What is all the guff about the need for a Public Services Card?
Privacy campaigners are up in arms using all means available – Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.
Given the choice, who prefers faceless multinational data harvesters to a sovereign government for collecting and keeping personal information safe?– Yours, etc,
JOHN ROGERS,
Rathowen,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – I don’t see what all the fuss is about. As a pensioner, my Public Services Card is invaluable. Not only do I use it to travel free on public transport, but it is also a much more convenient means of ID than carrying a passport.
Then, in my senior moments, when I forget my PPSN number, all I have to do is look at the back of the card and there it is.
I’ll bet that not many people over 66 refuse to get a card. – Yours, etc,
TONY CORCORAN,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – While Donal McGrath (August 25th) does make some valid points regarding the advantages of a Public Services Card, perhaps there is a better way to combat the scourge that is library fraud than spending €60 million on an IT project to collect and then store a citizen's biometric data against their will? – Yours, etc,
ANDREW ABBOTT,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – That in the same breath the Minister for Social Protection would say that the public services card is not "compulsory" but is "mandatory" for using public services is an unmeritorious and Jesuitical distinction (News, August 25th).
Is the only reason that it is not classified as compulsory that section 12 of the Immigration Act 2004 (as amended), whereby it is an offence not to produce identification to a member of the Garda when walking down the street, does not apply to nationals of the European Economic Area?
If the Minister means something else, we are verging on the terrain of the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN DINEEN,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.