Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief and focus on the digital green certificate, with two fundamental but interconnected issues, namely, freedom and privacy. On the one hand, the certificate would help facilitate the safe reopening of EU economies, with the crucial word being "safe". People who fear putting their loved ones at risk with the simple act of spending time together no longer need to worry about that risk and tourism can slowly begin to reboot in cities, towns and villages across the EU without fear of future lockdowns. Importantly, livelihoods can be restored for sectors deeply affected over the past year and four months.

That being said, a green certificate should not inadvertently lead to discrimination between people or groups of people when it comes to freedom of movement. It is a freedom on which we pride ourselves and from which we have benefited for generations. I reiterate the comments made by my Green Party colleagues in the European Parliament that people who have not yet been vaccinated should not be discriminated against. To my mind, this means there should be two other criteria for a certificate, which are proof of a negative Covid-19 test or of Covid-19 recovery. They need to be on an equal footing to proof of vaccination. I am conscious this may not always be possible in practice so safeguards for such circumstances must be teased out and addressed.

I also highlight the question of data protection and echo the concerns of my EU counterparts in highlighting that there should be no trade-off between people's data protection rights and the facilitation of safe travel. We need both. People across the EU and beyond must be assured that whereas a certificate will verify public health safety, it should not be used to collect, store or transmit information about where, when or for what purpose a person is using the certificate.

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