
Ireland is leaving €8 billion on the table — and this is why
From Transform Gov - the digital government podcast by Maeve Kneafsey
April 24, 2026 · 26 min · Season 2 · Episode 67
About this episode
Marie Wallace discusses the economic impact of digital identity on service delivery in Ireland.
In Part 2 of this Transform Gov conversation, Marie Wallace (Accenture) moves beyond the concept of digital identity — and explains what it actually means in practice for service delivery, cost, and efficiency. The headline figure? Up to €8 billion in economic impact for Ireland. But the real story is where that value comes from: removing manual verification from services eliminating repeated onboarding across organisations reducing friction across life events and integrating identity directly into business processes From passports to healthcare to supply chains, this is a look at how identity sits at the centre of service transformation. And why fixing it could change everything. Get the full report The Identity Economy https://forms.office.com/r/fqCBsvQRv3 Chapters 00:00 Bringing digital identity into real-world impact 01:18 €8bn — where the number comes from 01:56 Manual verification — the hidden problem 02:46 Repeating data across services 03:06 Life events — why services don’t connect 04:53 Personalised services explained 05:47 Data control and AI at the edge 08:46 Fraud, deepfakes and verification 12:01 Where the biggest gains are (health, pensions, services) 13:38…
People in this episode
Host: Maeve Kneafsey
Guest: Marie Wallace
Topics covered
- digital identity
- service delivery
- economic impact
- efficiency
- government services
Keywords
- digital identity
- economic impact
- service transformation
- manual verification
- government services
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Accenture
Books & works: The Identity Economy
Places: Ireland
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