How to test Ireland's Government Digital Wallet

Ireland's Government Digital Wallet — the national version of the EU Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet — entered public testing on 3 April 2026. Anyone can sign up to take part. This is the plain-English guide to what the wallet is, how the testing works, who can join, and what you should know before you do.

The short version

• The Government Digital Wallet is a smartphone app, built on MyGovID, that will hold verified digital versions of official documents.
• Testing has two stages: stage one is open to everyone (view the design, learn the features, give feedback, sign up); stage two lets people aged 16 or over download the app and try a limited set of functions.
• Taking part is voluntary and free. You register at gov.ie/DigitalWallet.
• It is part of Ireland meeting the EU's eIDAS 2.0 deadline: every member state must offer a working wallet by 24 December 2026.
• Public bodies must accept the wallet by end of 2026; banks and other private providers doing strong customer authentication by end of 2027.

What the wallet is — and isn't

The Government Digital Wallet is a state-issued app for storing and presenting verified credentials from your phone. Think of the way an Apple Wallet or Google Wallet holds a boarding pass or a payment card — but here the contents are official identity documents and entitlements, cryptographically signed by the issuing authority.

It is not a replacement for MyGovID; it is built on top of it. MyGovID does the identity verification; the wallet adds EU-interoperable credentials you can present to any compliant service across the EU. It is also not, at this stage, mandatory — though over time more services are expected to accept (and some may come to expect) it. For the wider rollout and the criticism around it, see our EUDI Wallet hub.

What it will hold

The documents named for the wallet during the testing phase include:

• Driving licence (a digital mobile driving licence, or mDL)
• Birth certificate
• Passport
• European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

The Government has also said the wallet will be a route to register for key supports such as the Working Family Payment, and that it will expand over time across travel, education, health and banking credentials. Not all of these are available in the test build — the early stages focus on the design and a limited set of functions.

How to take part — step by step

1. Go to gov.ie/DigitalWallet. This is the official campaign and consultation page. Be wary of any other site claiming to register you — the only official route is gov.ie. (We never collect any of your details on MyID; we are an independent editorial site.)
2. Stage one — open to everyone. You can view the proposed design, read what the wallet is meant to do, submit feedback to the public consultation, and opt in to be contacted for further testing. No app download is required at this stage.
3. Stage two — for people aged 16 or over. Eligible testers are invited to download the app and try a limited set of functions. This is where you actually handle the wallet on your own device.
4. Give honest feedback. The whole point of the consultation is that the Government has said it wants to hear the public's ideas and concerns before the wallet is finalised. Usability problems and privacy concerns raised now are more useful than complaints after launch.

You will need a verified MyGovID account to use the identity functions. If you don't have one yet, our MyGovID guide explains the verification routes, and troubleshooting covers the common sign-in problems.

Should you take part?

That's a personal call, and a reasonable person could go either way. Points worth weighing:

• In favour: the testing phase is genuinely the window where public feedback shapes the design. The wallet is coming regardless of the EU deadline, so input now is more influential than objection later. The architecture is built around selective disclosure — proving one attribute (for example "I am over 18") without handing over everything else.
• Reasons for caution: civil-society groups including the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Digital Rights Ireland have raised concerns about state digital identity becoming an everyday gatekeeper — particularly given the parallel plan to use a MyGovID-based app for age verification on social media. Testing is voluntary; you are under no obligation to install anything.

For the full debate, see the ICCL position and our Online Safety Code coverage.

Timeline

When	What
Early 2026	Pilot completed with more than 500 public servants.
3 April 2026	Public consultation and opt-in testing opens at gov.ie/DigitalWallet.
April–May 2026	Feedback gathered; informs final design tweaks and security audits.
Later in 2026	Open beta expected.
24 December 2026	Hard EU deadline — a working wallet must be available; public bodies must accept it.
End of 2027	Private providers doing strong customer authentication (banks, payment services) must accept it.

How to follow this story

The Government has said the gov.ie/DigitalWallet page will stay live with updates through the testing phase and beyond. We publish plain-English summaries as each milestone lands — the EUDI Wallet hub is the page we keep current.

Related

• EUDI Wallet hub — the full picture of the EU-wide rollout and what the wallet means by 2027.
• MyGovID — the identity foundation the wallet is built on.
• EUDI Wallet vs MyGovID — how the two relate.
• Online Safety Code — the age-verification plan that overlaps with the wallet.