jimcorrtube
February 09, 2010

Jim Corr on The Saturday Night show in Ireland on 30th Jan 2010.

THE controversial public services identity card will be equipped to carry biological data — such as fingerprints and eye scans — when it is unveiled later this year.

The new details emerged following the confirmation yesterday that the Department of Social and Family Affairs contracted a biometrics company to produce the cards.

The scheme will now be rolled out in the second half of the year.

The department told the Irish Independent that there were “no current plans to carry DNA or any form of biometric data on the card”.

“However, the card, as proposed, can include biometric data,” it added.

The Government says that about three million people over the age of 16 will carry the card.

And thousands may have to present themselves at welfare offices to sign up for it when it is launched.

It is hoped that every adult in the country will have a card within three or four years.

Existing data held by the Government — such as photographs, signatures and PPS numbers — will be used to create the cards.

Much of the data is already available to the State through other forms of identification, such as passports.

More than three million people over the age of 18 hold Irish passports, but it is not clear how many of them live in the State. Figures for those aged 16 and over could not be provided.

If there are any gaps in a person’s information held by the authorities, that person will then have to give the missing details — meaning thousands of people could have to go to welfare offices.

“It is not possible at this time to estimate the volume of customers for whom data is not held but it is intended to ask these customers to personally register for the card,” a statement from Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin’s department said.

The card will initially contain the holder’s name, photograph, signature and public service number, which is used to access welfare benefits and other state services.

In addition, personal details such as a person’s date of birth, former surnames and mother’s surname are likely to be electronically encoded on the identity card.

Any other information that may be deemed necessary can be either inscribed or electronically encoded on the card.

The Government is ploughing ahead with the scheme despite the reservations of groups like the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.

Fraud

Officials say that it will allow easier access to public services, cut red tape and clamp down on welfare fraud.

Biometric Card Services, part of the Smurfit Kappa Group, has won the tender for the €18m contract.

The company — which is based in Bray, Co Wicklow — specialises in vouchers, revenue stamps, cheques, passports and other security-printed products.

The company declined to comment on what kind of biometric data the cards would be equipped to carry, and the Department of Social and Family Affairs could not specify either. The department says that Biometric Card Services will handle what it calls the “personalisation, distribution and customer handling” of the card system.

It also says the company will handle the “provision of associated card bureau services”.

“Other departments and agencies would also be in a position to use the card.

“A public service provider who uses the Public Service Card will be able to gain the benefits of card-based identity and authentication with minor changes to their systems,” the department said.

“The card can be distributed through multiple means such as the postal system, collected at public offices, etc.

“The method of distribution and location of delivery will depend on the circumstances of each applicant.”

It is not intended as a national identity card and the department says that such a card is a “wider issue”.

“It would require due consideration by the Government and the development and implementation of legislation to support any such policy.”

Newstalk

Musician and political activist Jim Corr gives his views on why people should petition against the introduction of airport body scanners.

This comes  in the wake of last month’s failed airline bomb plot when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly attempted to destroy a detroit-bound jet, using explosives sewn into his underwear.

Have a listen…

JASON MICHAEL
The Irish Times
Thursday, January 21, 2010

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today told a Council of Ministers meeting in Toledo, Spain, he supported the introduction of full-body scanners to Irish airports.

During a 90 minute session on the subject of counter terrorism, Mr Ahern told other European ministers and US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano that Ireland would play its part in overcoming international terrorism.

“If additional measures are required – and they are – either in exchange of passenger information or better technology, then we should do so. We need to fast track exchange of information which can play a very important role in defeating international terrorism. Law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear from increased information exchange, particularly internally in the EU, and better scanning devices and technology,” he said.

“International co operation and co-ordination of all our efforts, particularly with the United States, will be essential to meet the terrorists head on. The clear message to send out is that terrorism will not win over the rule of democratic nations.”

Britain and France are leading calls at EU level for the introduction of passenger name recognition (PNR) – information exchange used in profiling and detecting terror suspects – across the EU. Such a system is in place between the EU and the United States.

Ms Napolitano briefed Ministers regarding recent attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound aircraft on Christmas Day, and she called for information exchange and security co-operation during the summit of European interior ministers.

The head of the Slovak delegation attending the Justice and Home Affairs Council of Ministers meeting publicly apologised to Ireland over the Christmas explosives incident involving one of their citizens.

After a meeting between Mr Ahern and the Slovak delegation, the Slovak ambassador to Spain, Jan Skoda, gave the apology for the incident in which a Slovak national returning to Ireland after Christmas unwittingly carried explosive material into the country as part of an exercise.

Mr Ahern told the Slovak delegation he understood the communications difficulties surrounding the incident in Slovakia, but he told the meeting the fact someone could board an aircraft with explosive material was a “wake up call” for the EU.

Irish farmers can't get their potatoes out of the ground due to freezing temperatures

As Ireland faces the prospect of ten more days of freezing temperatures, potato farmers in Ireland are facing a very uncertain future as they can’t harvest their crops.

Between the floods around the country in November and the subsequent freeze in December and now January, potato farmers have been left frustrated as either water or ice has prevented them from getting potatoes out of the ground, and that could result in a loss of around €15 ($21.6) million to Irish potato farmers.

Thomas Carpenter, the National Potato Committee Vice-Chairman of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), said that 6,000 acres of potato files have been unharvested because of the inclement weather.

“The losses will result in a 20% reduction in marketable produce and retailers must respond immediately by paying a viable price to producers for crop in store,” said Carpenter.

The IFA is also concerned the frost could kill up to 75 per cent of the potato crops currently sitting in Irish fields.

The reduced supply could result in a hike in prices for potatoes, and Ireland’s signature vegetable is not the only crop suffering.

Carrots, celery, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower crops are also unharvested in recent weeks as the freezing temperatures continue.

A NEW credit card-style driving licence containing a chip that holds information about the driver is to be introduced over the next year or so, according to Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey.

He said the Road Safety Authority was examining how this could be achieved.

“There is work ongoing on this, and I am looking at trying, within the next 12 to 18 months, to introduce the plastic credit card-type licence with a microchip,” he told The Irish Times.

The cards will hold a photo; the driver’s name, address, date of birth, class of licence, and details of the issuing authority. It will also carry a record of any penalty points on the driver’s record.

Mr Dempsey said the new format would address a number of security and enforcement issues, particularly fake licences and the fact that a garda stopping a motorist does not know from an examination of the driver’s licence whether they are disqualified.

The new licences will have additional security features not available on the paper licence to make counterfeiting more difficult.

Mr Dempsey suggested the issuing of licences might be centralised into one licensing authority in a further effort to improve security.

“If you want to tighten up security, do you maintain the system where licences are issued by 33 or 34 local authorities around the country or do you move to a system that is centralised and has a very tight control on the cards that are issued and that all of the data is contained in one place?

“I strongly believe we need to introduce the card and streamline the system to make it more secure,” he said.

The changes are part of a European project to introduce a credit card-style driving licence by the start of 2013 to assist cross-border policing of motoring offences. These will be mutually recognised by member states.

Mr Dempsey said he wants to introduce the system “well before that deadline”.

The new cards will have the capacity to carry a thumbprint or an eyeprint if the EU decides to introduce biometric security features, Mr Dempsey added.

The Republic and Northern Ireland aim to mutually recognise driving disqualifications for reckless or dangerous driving, hit-and-runs, drink-driving and speeding from early next year.

Ministers in both jurisdictions are also working on a way to apply penalty points to holders of a licence issued outside the country where the offence took place, although this is a longer-term project.

Mr Dempsey also said he would look at incorporating the new licences with a social welfare card where appropriate. “I am also interested in whether or not we can include information about whether people want to be organ donors, although there are complications with that,” he said.

DanHannanMEP
November 25, 2009

Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England, giving a speech in Strasbourg on 25 November 2009.

Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
London Guardian
Sunday 15 November 2009

Dazkkk
November 05, 2009

Tour Of The Irish Freemason Grand Lodge HD
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