Mr. Seamus Carroll:

I think the Deputy is trying to tempt me out of my comfort zone on this and I will resist the temptation because I do not really know enough about the specific matters he mentions. However, I can say that national identity cards are commonplace on mainland Europe and, in fact, the majority of member states of the European Union have identification systems. There is the provision in Article 87 of the GDPR for the processing of the national identification number.

The provision states that member states may further determine the specific conditions for the processing of the national identification number or any other identifier of general application.

There is the possibility, which is foreseen and recognised in the General Data Protection Regulation, of having a national identification number. When it comes to legislation to give effect to any of this, as I mentioned earlier, there will be an obligation in future to consult with the Data Protection Commissioner. The Data Protection Commissioner would be in a position to give advice to public authorities, whether Departments or local authorities, when it comes to either legislative measures or measures to give effect to legislative measures concerning data processing.