The Government has opened a public consultation on Ireland’s planned Government Digital Wallet, a mobile application intended to allow people to store and use verified digital credentials when accessing public and private services.
The consultation was published by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation on 13 May 2026 and is open for submissions until 5pm on 24 June 2026. The Department says the purpose is to gather feedback from the public, stakeholder organisations, industry experts and civil society before the wallet is launched more widely.
The wallet is being developed as part of Ireland’s Digital Public Service Plan 2030. That plan sets a target for 100 percent of key public services to be available online by 2030, with 90 percent of applicable services consumed digitally. It also introduces a “life events” model, where public services are organised around important moments in a person’s life, such as becoming a parent, starting school, accessing housing or retiring.
According to the Department, the Government Digital Wallet will provide a secure and convenient way to store and use verified digital credentials through a mobile application linked to a person’s MyGovID account. It is expected to support digital versions of important documents and credentials, including documents linked to travel, education, health and banking, once the necessary legal provisions are in place.
The Department says the wallet is intended to make public services easier to access and reduce the administrative burden around major life events. It gives examples such as having a baby or dealing with the death of a loved one, where administrative processes can add pressure at already demanding moments. The Government says the wallet should allow people to store official documents digitally and submit them more easily when accessing supports and services.
The consultation is also linked to Ireland’s obligations under the EU’s revised digital identity framework, known as eIDAS 2. Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 amended the original eIDAS Regulation and requires each EU Member State to make available at least one European Digital Identity Wallet. The European Commission says the wallets are intended to allow citizens, residents and businesses to prove who they are, store and share important digital documents, and electronically sign or seal documents.
The Irish Government states that, while use of the wallet will be voluntary for citizens, it is mandatory for the State to provide it. The wallet must meet EU requirements on technical standards, security, interoperability and certification. Mandatory acceptance by public bodies is due to commence by the end of 2026, while private service providers that carry out strong customer authentication, such as banks and payment service providers, are expected to be required to accept EUDI wallets by the end of 2027.
Responsibility for the Irish wallet is divided across Government. The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation is responsible for technical development of the Digital Wallet. The Department of Culture, Communications and Sport is responsible for implementing eIDAS 2 legislation in Ireland. The Department of Social Protection owns the MyGovID identity scheme, which the Government says will provide the route to securely access the wallet.
The privacy position set out by Government is central to the consultation. The Department says personal data stored in the wallet will not be tracked or recorded by Government. It says the user will be the only person who can see the data stored in the wallet, and that the information will be stored securely on the user’s mobile phone. The Government also says the wallet will operate on privacy-by-design principles, meaning users should only have to share the data needed for a specific support or service.
This point is likely to be closely examined during consultation. Digital identity systems can simplify access to services, but they also raise questions about trust, consent, cybersecurity, exclusion, oversight and the boundary between voluntary use and practical necessity. The Department’s own consultation recognises that public confidence will be essential, stating that it wants to understand what people expect, what concerns they may have and how the wallet can be explained clearly.
The consultation has several strands. Members of the public are being invited to complete a short survey. Stakeholder organisations are also being consulted through a targeted online process. The Department says workshops with key bodies may examine accessibility and disability, older people and digital inclusion, children and young people, data governance and privacy, technology and digital rights, civil society, open government and transparency.
A testing phase is also planned. According to the Department, participants who register their interest may be invited to apply for early access to the wallet app, explore how it works, try different use cases and provide feedback before the full public launch. The Government says testing will help shape the final design, prioritise future credentials and stress-test both the technical infrastructure and support arrangements.
The wallet is expected to be introduced in stages. The current consultation and testing phase is taking place before the full national legislative basis for live, at-scale issuance has been established. The Government says work is ongoing to transpose the eIDAS 2 legislation and set up the necessary governance and regulatory oversight for issuing a European Digital Identity Wallet in Ireland.
The Government has not presented the wallet as a replacement for all existing forms of identification or public service access. Instead, it has described it as a voluntary digital channel. That distinction will matter for people who do not use smartphones, have limited digital skills, have accessibility needs, or prefer physical documents. The inclusion of workshops on older people, disability and digital inclusion indicates that these issues are expected to form part of the policy design process.
For public bodies, the wallet could change how documents and credentials are requested, checked and reused. If implemented successfully, it may reduce repeated requests for the same information across different services. It may also support the Government’s wider life-events approach, where services are grouped around a person’s needs rather than the administrative structure of individual Departments.
For private providers, the implications will depend on national legislation and the EU framework. Banks and payment service providers are specifically identified by Government as examples of private bodies that conduct strong customer authentication and are expected to come within mandatory acceptance requirements by the end of 2027. Other private providers may choose to support EUDI wallets for access to services and for sharing personal credentials.
The European dimension is also important. The purpose of the EU Digital Identity Wallet is not only domestic access to services, but cross-border recognition. The European Commission says wallets should allow people to identify themselves, store and share documents, and sign electronically across Member States. In practice, this could be relevant to studying abroad, applying for jobs, accessing public services in another EU country, or using verified credentials with regulated private services.
The Government’s consultation therefore sits at the intersection of digital public service reform, EU law, identity management and public trust. Its potential benefits are clear: simpler access to public services, less paperwork, stronger digital credentials and better integration between services. Its risks are equally practical: cybersecurity, digital exclusion, user understanding, data governance, and whether people will feel they have real control over how their information is shared.
The Department’s stated approach is to use the consultation to inform the technical design, legislative development and public rollout of the wallet. The key questions for Government will be whether it can provide a system that is useful enough to be adopted, secure enough to be trusted, and inclusive enough not to become another barrier for people who already struggle to access public services.
Submissions to the consultation close at 5pm on 24 June 2026. For now, the Government Digital Wallet remains in consultation and testing. The policy direction, however, is clear: Ireland is preparing to make digital credentials a central part of how people interact with the State and, eventually, with certain private services across the European Union.
