The department has asked companies interested in producing “smart” licences to provide costs for biometric features.
The most common biometric tool is retinal scanning, which stores an image of the individual’s retina on a chip. Biometrics are acknowledged as less vulnerable to the counterfeiting associated with traditional photographic ID cards.
The government is already planning to introduce biometric scanning on passports, following the American authorities’ directive that only machine-readable passport holders will qualify to enter the country. This requirement, announced last week, begins in October.
The plans outlined by Seamus Brennan, the transport minister, also fit in with moves proposed by the European Union seven years ago. An EU council directive ruled that governments can store any kind of data on a driving licence, with the permission of the holder.
Civil rights groups are opposed to the introduction of smart ID cards. Aisling Reidy, director of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties, said: “Our concerns are multiple and relate to the possible general introduction of biometric forms of ID. What purpose should a driving licence serve other than to establish that a person is legally entitled to drive? A driving licence shouldn’t be used for any other purpose.”
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A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: “We have asked for details and costs for these features so we will be able to make a decision later as to what information exactly we will store on the card licences.”