Ireland Puts Age Verification at the Top of Its EU Presidency Agenda

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Ireland is preparing to make online child safety and age verification a major priority during its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union, according to Biometric Update. The move comes as several European countries consider stricter rules around children's access to social media and other online services.

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin has indicated that age verification will play an important role in the country's approach to online child protection and will lead to “far greater protection for children online”. He added that while a six-month presidency will pose a “challenging timeline” for implementing the under-16 ban, he hopes to advance the regulation during this time. 

Ireland is also expected to work with other member states on proposals to limit underage access to social media platforms.

The issue has gained momentum across Europe over the past year. Governments are focusing on platform moderation rather than how users' ages should be verified in the first place now, as can be seen from several countries that have proposed or introduced age verification requirements for online platforms.

Ireland’s government wants to implement digital identity tools as a way to support age verification while also limiting the levels of personal information shared online. 

The discussion on verification is closely linked to the increasing implementation of the EUDI Wallet, which governments expect will provide citizens with ways to prove their age without disclosing their full identity.