Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Craughwell for facilitating me. I also thank the Minister of State. He and I were on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council together a few years ago and we know each other well. He is excellent and is the right fit for this brief, being so up to speed with IT and so on. I got my digital certificate yesterday morning in the middle of our previous meeting, which was great because I could at least keep people in the loop and let them know that they are being sent out. The Chairman has his printed off and everything ready to go. It is fantastic that within a week of it being talked about, it has happened.

There was some talk yesterday because the Republic of Ireland is printed on the certificate as opposed to Ireland. I already asked the Minister of State about this and that was apparently just a mistake. Is there a way to fix that? I am not asking for a million letters to be posted at a cost of €1 million but perhaps if people want a new certificate they could ask for one or maybe the emails could be reissued with Ireland on them. Would that be too difficult to do logistically? I hope we can do it.

I hope the airlines will be proactive because they usually are when it comes to IT. It is good to hear that they are looking for the information at the time of booking or check-in online in order to speed everything up. I am quite happy to use technology and to have it in a wallet on my phone, but batteries die, screens crack and things go wrong. I suggest that everybody print their certificate off and have it in their back pocket or wherever, safely with their passport, as well as using the digital version. I ask the Minister of State to comment on the issue of the name of the State being the Republic of Ireland on the certificates rather than Ireland.