Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It will be exactly the same as it is today. When someone got their photograph taken a number of years ago, that photograph was stored on a secure data server. If someone gets their photograph taken next Tuesday, we will keep the photograph in the same secure server in the same format we have always used. What we are tendering for is the software that drives the algorithm, which is the facial mapping recognition programme we use. We are all probably aware that we are not considering a photograph as biometric data. It is just a photograph. The software for which we are tendering is an upgrade of the software we currently use, which produces an algorithm of a person's face that we then use to see if we can match that person's photograph with the photographs we store for all of the other 3.2 million people who have applied for a public services card to see if we can find a match. That is the only thing for which we are tendering. The SAFE 2 registration process that is governed by legislation since 2012 has not changed and will not change. The only thing we are proposing to do is tender for a new and more accurate and up-to-date version of the software we currently use.

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