Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his attendance in the House this morning to discuss this matter. I wish to raise the importance of Ireland’s implementation of the EU digital Covid certificate, or what we used to call the EU green certificate. As we are all aware, the Government has signed up to the EU Covid certificate with a start date of July 19, albeit two weeks later than the rest of our European colleagues. The certificate has been developed by the EU Commission over the last six months under their plan entitled “A common path to a safe and sustained re-opening”. The importance of reopening our skies and gaining back our crucial connectivity cannot be understated. Hundreds of thousands of families are relying on us to get this reopening right. Therefore, it must be both safe and easy, and we must get unhindered access to travel.

When we talk about the reopening of travel, it is often inaccurately framed, either in the media or on our social media, as involving young people who are desperate to head off to Ibiza. Of course, there is nothing wrong with wanting to go to Ibiza - I would nearly like to go myself - but it ignores the far greater impact on families that have been torn apart throughout the Continent. There are grandparents who have not seen new arrivals who have been born in the last 15 or 16 months. There are daddies who, in many cases, have not seen their children and have missed birthday parties. There are many more heart-wrenching examples. The introduction of the Covid certificate will be a game changer for these people. While I am on the subject, I thank the Tánaiste for his strong commitment to the implementation of the certificate. There were suggestions last week that we would exclude young people from accessing the certificate. That would be reprehensible and incredibly disrespectful to our young people and I am glad to hear that this is not being entertained.

We are four weeks away from Irish implementation of the certificate. The lack of information and significant level of disinformation circling in our social media channels is a real problem. I wish to hear in the Minister of State's response, if possible, details about the logistics of the certificate.So much of the debate around the return of international travel to date has come from the public health sphere. Obviously, the balance of risk taken into account by those in that sphere is different from that taken into account by the Government. What we really need to hear about the certificate is how it is going to work, how Irish citizens are going to get certificates, who will issue them, when people can apply for them, whether our testing and vaccination systems will feed into the process and if so, how.

I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response. These are the issues in respect of which information needs to be laid out. I am sure the Minister of State will do this. If it is not already planned, can we have a public information campaign in order that people can dispel the memory of what happened over the weekend when they thought they needed PCR tests on their way out of the country as well as on their way back in, as opposed to just meeting the requirements of the countries to which they are travelling?

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Senator is correct. There has been a lot of disinformation, not all of which has been intentional. Sometimes, ideas start to float around and need to be clarified so I thank the Senator for bringing this issue to the attention of the House. I always welcome the opportunity to speak in the Seanad.

As the Senator is aware, an EU digital Covid certificate is digital proof that a person has been vaccinated against Covid-19, has received a negative test result or has recovered from Covid-19. There are three separate certificates for those three events. Being in receipt of an EU digital Covid certificate should enable the holder to be exempt from restrictions on freedom of movement. However, member states do have the right to impose additional travel restrictions on the holders of an EU digital Covid certificate provided they are necessary and proportionate to safeguard public health. In such a case, as a reaction to new variants of concern, the member state would have to notify the Commission and all other member states to justify this decision. Each country will be responsible for issuing certificates where vaccination, a positive test for recovery or a negative test has taken place in that country.

In Ireland, the Government recognises how stretched the HSE is in terms of trying to support the vaccination roll-out and business as usual while recovering from the damage caused by the recent ransomware attack. Consequently, we are looking at how we can best support the HSE with these new obligations. For example, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, through the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, is working with the private sector to develop the system to support the negative test certificates so we will be issuing those certificates to say that a person has tested negative in the previous three days. However, the Department of Health and the HSE are responsible for issuing vaccination certificates and recovery certificates.

The EU digital Covid certificate contains only the necessary key information such as name, date of birth, date of issuance, relative information about vaccine test or recovery and a unique identifier. This data remains on the certificate and is not stored or retained when a certificate is verified in another member state. For verification purposes, only the validity and authenticity of the certificate is checked by the person verifying it who issued and signed it. All health data remains with the member state that issued an EU digital Covid certificate. The system is logical. Each EU digital Covid certificate will contain a quick response, QR, code with a digital signature to protect against falsification. When the certificate is checked, the QR code is scanned and the signature is verified. The signature can be checked using special software that can run from an app on a phone or any other device that can read a QR code.

Each issuing body has its own digital signature key that will be securely stored. We are only planning to have one or possibly two for our certificates. The European Commission has built a gateway through which the certificate signatures from each member state can be verified across the EU. It is important to note that the personal data of a certificate owner does not pass through the gateway because this is not necessary to verify the digital signature.

EU digital Covid certificates can be stored on mobile devices, although citizens can request paper versions if they need them. Both versions will have a QR code containing essential information as well as a digital signature to make sure the certificate is authentic. Member states have agreed on a common design that can be used for the electronic and paper versions to facilitate recognition. I am pleased to advise that the Irish certificate has been designed and the digital signature has already been tested with the EU. It is important that we stress test the overall process. We need to develop the most efficient way to enable travellers to be checked before departing the island and to enable visitors or those returning to be checked on entry to Ireland. To that end, the Government has set up a group of stakeholder Departments to work on the processes. This group is also liaising with other key stakeholders such as the carriers and testers. A great deal of work is required within very challenging timeframes to enable the system to work properly.I am confident that Ireland will be ready for 18 July, however. I commend everyone who has worked so hard during our preparations and who will continue to do so until everything is ready. Everyone recognises the importance of this initiative in helping the return to some form of normality. We are all committed to continuing to work closely in a co-ordinated manner, with the European Commission and member states, to support EU citizens' right to free movement with the roll-out of digital Covid certificates and the further opening up of travel from third countries.

Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. Respectfully, I have no doubt about ours or the Minister of State's intent but he has told me that we are still at design stage. I asked the question of how somebody would even apply. Are we going to log on to a website? Obviously, that has not been decided yet. These are the issues. How will it work? How will Irish citizens apply for a certificate? Who will give it to them?

The Minister of State alluded to the fact that there will be three certificates. Will we go to three different places? Will I go to the HSE to get my vaccination and to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to get my digital certificate? Again, I am not trying to be smart. We are trying to give clarity. I appreciate that he said that it is still at design stage. When does he believe he will be in a position to make a definitive statement and give clear and unambiguous information as to how a person will log on to a certain website or queue outside an office on 18 July?

I feel like I am banging my head off a brick wall trying to get an antigen pilot test done here in order that we can be the equivalent to our European counterparts. In the absence of getting the pilot, the Minister of State alluded to a fund of €100 million from the EU to support the costs of PCR tests. What plans do we have? Will introduce a voucher scheme for Irish travellers be introduced so that when they return to Ireland, they will not have to pay a very expensive cost for PCR testing? Will people be given a voucher to help towards those costs? We are encouraging people who are vaccinated to travel but they may have children who cannot get vaccinated. What will we do to help those people to be able to allow them to reunite their families this summer?

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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First, the Senator asked how people apply. In the case of a test certificate, people go to an accredited laboratory, which sends their certificate to them. They give their email address at the time and it is sent on to them. People choose whether they want it on paper or on their phone. How do people apply for a vaccination certificate or recovery certificate? The HSE will contact people by email and they can opt to download it from there. There is, therefore, no requirement in that regard.

Data were gathered very carefully all the way through the vaccination stage and stored in the COVAX system, which the HSE is using to keep track of who has been vaccinated and who has tested positive in the past nine months. Those data have been analysed. I would not say we are at design stage. The specification was laid out by the EU over the past six months or so.

The Senator asked about antigen tests and the costs and so forth. A person can have an antigen test on his or her certificate and if somebody accepts that in another country, that is great. If the Minister for Health and the Government decide to accept antigen tests for people coming in, they will be accepted too. The antigen tests, however, must be performed by either a medical professional or somebody who is qualified to do so. The current rate is not that much cheaper than a PCR test so that is something to bear in mind.