Government's appeal of fine over Public Services Card a 'waste of taxpayer's money', says expert
Daragh O'Brien, a data strategist and managing director of data protection consultancy Castlebridge, said the Government's challenge to the recent adverse decision by the commission regarding the public service card will in all likelihood end up before the Court of Justice of the EU, a process that will likely take several years and incur hundreds of thousands of euros in legal fees.
Last month's decision by the DPC related to a four-year-long investigation into the alleged biometric nature of the PSC – the welfare benefits card used daily by millions of Irish citizens which can also be utilised to access separate State services.
In addition to hitting the Department of Social Protection with a record €550,000 fine, the DPC ordered the department to cease processing biometric data — capturing the physical or behavioral characteristics of a person — with the card within nine months unless it could establish a valid legal basis for its doing so.
Most experts had presumed the only way for the department to successfully comply with that order would be to pass legislation grounding the card's biometric nature within the law. Instead, the department on Monday lodged legal papers in the High Court objecting to the DPC's decision.
'It would seem that rather than take the time generously allowed by the DPC to cure the issues identified in their unpublished decision that gave rise to the fine and enforcement notice, the department has opted to fight,' Mr O'Brien said of the new legal action.
It is not the first time the department has taken the legal route with the DPC in light of an adverse decision regarding the card. In 2019, the department appealed a previous decision by the commission ruling that the card could not be made mandatory for accessing public services, leading to a prolonged battle in the courts.
'I predict a long, drawn-out waste of taxpayer's money on a battle that will wind up in the CJEU with another loss for the State,' Mr O'Brien said.
A spokesperson for the department said that the decision to appeal had been taken on consultation with the Attorney General. 'The department believes that its processing of biometric data is compliant with data protection law,' they said.
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