Over 680,000 public service cards issued in 2017

The controversial PSC scheme, which has come under fire from privacy campaigners and data protection lawyers, has cost around €60 million to date.

The Department’s annual report for 2017 also reveals that 171 cases of suspected identity fraud were detected as a result of welfare claimants registering for the PSC last year.

The SAFE2 verification system, which uses facial recognition technology, led to 171 cases being “detected and referred for investigation”, which are now “at various different stages of the investigation and prosecution process”.