Madam, – In response to Marion Fallon’s inability to recall her PPS number in order to set up an An Post savings account (April 6th), it is preposterous that she had to resort to digging out her birth certificate, in this the supposedly digital technology era. Of course people cannot remember their PSS numbers off-hand; they are lengthy, cryptic and difficult to memorise.
Ms Fallon’s challenges with An Post, and similar challenges by other Irish citizens, would not occur if each and every person born in Ireland were issued with a unique personal identification number based on their date-of-birth and appended with a unique four-digit code. This would be much easier for people to memorise and recall.
An Irish citizen’s unique personal identification number in that format should then act as the key to every citizen’s dealings with state and tax affairs. It is the first piece of personal information I’m requested to provide in similar situations here and I’ve never encountered the situation Ms Fallon found herself in.
All pertinent computer systems should be fully integrated and compatible. The current archaic disconnected and hence troublesome muddle should be sorted out, once and for all. – Yours, etc.