Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2020
517. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health the status of the establishment of voluntary tracing apps arising from Covid-19; the proposals relating to the working of such apps at EU level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10414/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs part of the national response to Covid-19, work is underway to develop a national contact tracing app for Ireland that will help the public health service improve the speed and completeness of contact tracing and to map and predict the spread of Covid-19.
Developing contact tracing capability in mobile phones is a non-trivial engineering and public health exercise.
Development of the contact tracing app for Ireland is now complete and validation testing is underway to prove the functionality of the app in real world scenarios. The app will be released when validation testing is complete, and all appropriate approvals are in place. The results of validation testing will inform the go live date.
Apps are also being developed in many EU countries. Each is tailored to meet the needs of the national public health service and specifically the way in which contact tracing operations has been set up to work.
DG Sante, DG Connect and other key stakeholders at EU level are leading the way in developing interoperability standards to enable national apps to work in other members states, to support EU citizens as they travel between countries. Ireland is actively engaged in these activities through its membership of the EU eHealth network, which is acting as the forum for these discussions and agreements. Last week, the eHealth network agreed to pilot a solution for interoperability between members states using ‘decentralised’ contact tracing apps.
