Ireland veering towards 'Holy Grail' of authoritarianism : Chinese got internet ID prior to Social Credit Score

Niall Feiritear

The Irish Government is veering towards authoritarianism with its new online ID plans, according to leading experts.

Government Minister Patrick O'Donovan is expected to ask for the formal implementation of a "digital wallet" in Ireland this week, similar to what was introduced in China 9 years ago.

O'Donovan is believed to want this introduced in the first quarter of 2026 and it would be used to gather data of internet users amid an EU drive to restrict online activities.

'Protecting children' is the argument being used to gather this data. It is understood that there could be scope for the wallet to be used to verify the identity of adults for online platforms and services.

Joe O’Brien, executive director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, told Irish Legal News: “These reports suggest the minister wants every adult and child in Ireland over the age of 15 to present a MyGovID whenever they want to post on social media. On what legal basis?

“These digital IDs require a Public Services Card, and child safety cannot be successfully secured through the use of a database that has been found to be illegal.

“This kind of disproportionate response to a very real issue veers into the realm of authoritarianism. We need a much broader public discussion.”

Dr TJ McIntyre, chair of Digital Rights Ireland, added: “Giving government data about identity to social media platforms will give them even more information about individuals than they have already.

“It will give them access to government databases which will make their targeting of advertising and content algorithms at adults — including vulnerable adults — even more effective.

“It would also mean, in effect, that users could no longer browse the Internet with any degree of anonymity.

“Most websites are connected to social media/advertising companies through use of cookies and hidden image files.

“Connecting the social media and advertising companies’ databases to MyGovID would mean that every web page access could be traced back to a specific Irish holder of a Public Services Card.

Olga Cronin, human rights and surveillance senior policy officer of ICCL, added: “For the State to consider expanding or relying further on the already-controversial MyGovID system, especially as it’s underpinned by an unlawful facial biometric database and is still under investigation by the DPC, is deeply irresponsible.

“For the State to team up with Big Tech as a means to dismantle online anonymity and identify internet users only compounds these issues.”

Journalist Alex Jones made the following point: "Age verification is the training wheel for digital ID. Oh we don't want the kids to see pornography, yeah, right.

"They want to be able to turn your internet off. That's the social credit score, what China has got. The first thing they got 9 years ago was the internet ID.

"And then right after that they got the social credit score, it's the implementation of that. Bad, bad, bad. They did it in Nigeria and there were riots. India is bringing it in. It is the holy grail of tyranny."

Tánaiste Simon Harris articulated a strong backing for regulation, saying Ireland’s existing digital age of consent was 16 and “that should matter”.

“I am very supportive of the idea of social media being restricted to people above a certain age,” Mr Harris said.