Mr. Denis Kelleher:

There are plenty of example of European states providing effective identification services. I realise that this is quite controversial in the context of the current debate on the public services card in Ireland. The difficulty here comes down to the question as to who one wants to process one's personal data or be responsible for one's identification. If the State is responsible for this then the individual has many protections through such things as judicial review and fair procedure. If a social media company is doing that identification then the individual's ability to get protective oversight is much lower. The individual then either brings an action before the courts him or herself or else uses his or her rights of access and goes to the Data Protection Commissioner. I understand that there are, for historic reasons, good arguments as to why the provision of identification services by the State is controversial. On the other hand, however, we have to look at the reality of today, which is that the alternative to the State identifying individuals is that this be done by a private sector body.