Ms Helen Dixon:

I am aware of that. The GDPR, as I said earlier, requires organisations to be accountable, to conduct their own risk assessments, to implement identity verification procedures that are proportionate to the risks in terms of why identity is being verified, very similar to the public services card issues that we have to discuss, and to ensure that they have means by which people with disabilities can be accommodated in any of those processes. Those telcos do not represent the views of the Data Protection Commission in terms of how they are implementing in those cases.

We are aware of those very specific cases. I mentioned earlier, in response to Deputy Connolly, that the most complained of sectors per our 2018 report are telcos and banks. In respect of telcos, my colleague, John O'Dwyer, recently had a meeting on site with ComReg about this very issue of how identity verification is being delivered and how people with disabilities can be accommodated. We gave ComReg a range of solutions that should not put people in the kind of circumstances that the Chairman outlined today.