The Students' Union at University College Dublin (UCD) has suspended selling Student Leap Cards, after they say they uncovered that personal information was at risk.

The information used in the student version of the card is different to regular cards.

The union claims the information it takes is in breach of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Personal information available to Student Leap Card agents includes a photo, address, mobile phone number and e-mail.

The union claims agents can also print multiple Student Leap Cards with people's identity on them without them providing any information at all.

UCD Students' Union President, Barry Murphy, said: "When you first register, all your information is immediately seen by all Leap Card agents.

"They can also search your personal information with your name or an identification number.

"This information remains readable to all agents, long after you have purchased a Student Leap Card.

"We have not been made aware of any policy on how long your information is kept for."

File photo

"If they like your picture, they can find you on Facebook. They will know where you live. They can steal your identity. They can sell your mobile number and email address to companies who will spam you.

"They can make and sell fake IDs with your face and name on them. All of this can be done without knowing which individual, from which agency, from which part of the country did it.

"There is no way of knowing if it is not an agent, if the system is hacked, considering there is a simple log in password that can't be changed."

The Students' Union said it did not want to risk having personal information "abused".

"It is the role of our Union to protect the welfare of our members. We have actively engaged with FIMAK over a number of months to have this issue resolved before the start of term.

"As students across the country begin this semester, we need this serious data breach to be resolved immediately."

The Student Leap Card system is outsourced by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to a firm called Fimak.

The union said it is continuing to work with the NTA.