Malcolm Byrne

Well, the decision of the DPC is currently being appealed to the High Court.

So that's a matter for the courts to make a decision there.

What I can say in the case of this piece of legislation specifically, which is, look, there are legitimate concerns and it is very important in terms of all of our data that we can have confidence that it's going to be used safely at any one time.

I think what's going to be beneficial, I think we do need to talk about the whole concept of our digital identity and our data.

And by the way, that includes our face, our voice, our likeness and how we protect that.

Because I think it's broader to talk about than a national ID card.

But I certainly think it's a case of

the more digitalization of records that will help.

Because I think one of the things a lot of people find frustrating is the fact we haven't digitalized yet our health records in Ireland.

So if somebody ends up in a hospital, it should be relatively easy if they put in, you know, Malcolm Byrne is my name.

This is my PPS number.

This is my date of birth.

They're going to be able to access with my consent, you know, my medical records from my GP and so on to inform it rather than

you know, the paper-based trail that we have at the moment.

So I think where we have a digital ID with safeguards and where you as an individual can have control over that, I think it's a good thing.

If it improves the delivery of public services to citizens, I think most people will be happy with that.

At the moment, we effectively use, when people are asked for their ID, it tends to be a passport or a driving licence tends to be produced.

If there is another option that is available, I think that should be made for citizens.

Yeah, and I would agree with TJ.

I think that there has to be, in terms of any form of identification, in particular on digital identification, there has to be interoperability because the idea should be, and how we need to look at this, is from the perspective of the citizen.