Malcolm Byrne

Well, good morning, Clare, and good morning, TJ.

And yes, I mean, TJ raises valid concerns.

In terms of the introduction of any form of ID, it's critical that an individual's data is kept safe.

And that if you share, and data protection rules are quite simple, that if you share your data with somebody...

They can only use it for the express purposes that you provided.

But this isn't something in terms of what's being proposed now that's being rushed.

One of the questions that I, as a politician, often get asked by citizens is, why can I not have a simple car to be able to access more services?

And yes, it has to be done properly.

So what's being proposed now is about providing that legal basis that TJ talks about under a social welfare bill that will allow individuals to use a public services card for the purposes of ID, for instance, when they go into a bank.

It's optional.

It's not forcing anyone to use it.

In the same way as at the moment, some people have to use a passport or they have to use a driving licence, and there are some people who don't have a passport or a driving licence.

It's the choice of the individual within this provision as to whether or not they want their date of birth to appear on the ID card for age verification purposes.

So that's left up to the individual to determine that.

But what this is really doing is giving individuals access

And, you know, another option in terms of whether they're able to access services as a form of ID.

And it's not being rushed.

This is going to be considered as part of the social welfare bill.

It will go through pre-legislative scrutinies and organisations like Digital Rights Ireland and others will have the opportunity to make submissions.

But what it will do is it will address that legal challenge.