378. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether the Government digital wallet will use persistent identifiers, identity matching, or any mechanism that could enable cross-service tracking or profiling. [45847/26]

The Government Digital Wallet is being developed in line with the EU eIDAS 2 Regulation, which requires the State to make a Digital Wallet available.

In line with the requirements under the EU eIDAS Regulation, the design of the Government Digital Wallet is explicitly privacy-preserving and user-centric in that individuals retain full control over what data is shared and with whom. Only the minimum data necessary for a transaction is disclosed supporting data minimisation and selective disclosure. Personal data is not tracked or recorded centrally by Government, and is stored securely on the user’s device and data exchanges occur via secure, authenticated connections directly between the user and the relevant service provider.

Before any credential can be added to the wallet, users must first sign in with their MyGovID account. This will allow users verify their identity, allowing service providers to deliver more seamless, joined up public services according to the relevant eligibility and entitlement rules for these services. Verifying identity is already a core requirement of public service provision, and the wallet will enable this in a way that is convenient and secure, with all sharing of information via the wallet at the discretion of the user.

Further information about the wallet is available at the following FAQ link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-public-expenditure-infrastructure-public-service-reform-and-digitalisation/publications/government-digital-wallet-your-questions-answered/.