Complying with roadside checks by An Garda Síochána, proving educational qualifications, banking transactions and providing proof of age to buy alcohol could all in future be done using a Government smartphone app.
Under plans being rolled out by the Department of Public Expenditure (DPER), the digital wallet app, which is based around a person’s PPS number, is next week being made available to 10,000 people as part of a pilot scheme.
Ireland is required under EU law to have a digital wallet for public services by the end of this year. The use of the app will not be compulsory and older forms of ID will still be usable.
The digital wallet came to public attention earlier this year after Ministers suggested it could be used to comply with social media age limits, though proposals for age verification for under-16s have not advanced.
It is understood that there has been some tension between DPER, which built and will roll out the app, and the Department of Communications, which would be responsible for setting social media age limits, about the main purpose of the app.
While some senior Government figures, including Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan and Tánaiste Simon Harris, suggested the app could be used to verify the ages of children trying to use social media accounts, it is understood the use of the app cannot be compulsory under EU rules.
The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, the division within DPER that designed and built the app, believes that any social network that sought to use the app to set age limits would also have to offer an alternative way for users to prove they are aged over 16. The Government has not yet formally engaged with tech companies on how the digital wallet could be used to set age limits.
A public consultation on the app has taken place, with some people raising concerns about how their data would be used.
The digital wallet is based on a “zero knowledge proof” model, which means it can verify someone is over a certain age without needing to share their name or date of birth with a website. The wallet can send a signal to a third party website to indicate if a person is or is not over a certain age, without needing to share any other data.
DPER has been engaging with other public services on possible uses for the wallet. The app will eventually allow people to store a digital version of their driving licence, birth certificate, passport and their European Health Card.
Banks, insurers and higher education institutions are also understood to be interested in ways that they could use it. DPER wants the app to be designed around big “life events” like having a baby, getting married or divorced, buying or selling a house, joining or leaving a job, and end of life.
The user can keep a log of when and how their data has been shared, with their consent, by the wallet. Users would also be able to choose how much or how little of their data they want to share each time it is used.