Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 March 2018
781. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to make it mandatory for persons to produce photo identification in order to buy a SIM card for a mobile phone. [11912/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraA proposal to register all customers of mobile phone services was considered previously by my Department. It was concluded that such a proposal would be unlikely to solve the illegal and inappropriate use of mobile phones by persons determined to use the technology for illegal activity. There is also a risk that such measures could lead to the emergence in a black market for fraudulently registered or stolen SIM cards. Furthermore, there are significant data protection issues associated with such a proposal.
For those reasons I am not currently considering any plans to make it mandatory for persons to need to register for mobile phone services.
