Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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225. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question No. 1218 of 7 November 2017, her views on whether a person's phone number is personal information in the context of verifying a MyGov account; if she will clarify point A of her original reply; if it is the phone handset or the device that is being verified or the phone number; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48436/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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While a person’s phone number is an element of their contact information, it is also regarded as personal information. A phone number in itself cannot identify a person. No additional information, e.g., any of the Public Service Identity data held by my Department, is issued with any text sent as part of a MyGovID verification process.

Point (a) of my previous response related to the process for verification of an individual’s mobile phone. Currently, a person’s mobile phone number is verified in a Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection office. The person must attend themselves and have their mobile phone with them. The process takes place in the presence of an officer of the Department and involves an SMS incorporating a code being sent by the system to the mobile phone number provided by the person. That code is then entered confidentially onto a keypad by the person. Assuming the code inputted in the keypad matches that sent to the mobile phone number supplied, that mobile phone number is then considered verified and may be used as part of the verification of the person’s MyGovID account.

It is the mobile phone number that is being verified, not the handset or device.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.