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LAST UPDATE | 14 Jul 2021
A TEMPORARY CALL centre for people who have queries relating to their Digital Covid Cert received 4,000 calls on its first day on Monday.
A larger call centre with 60-90 operators dealing with all aspects of the system is due to become operational from next Monday but a temporary call centre comprising 25-30 operators is currently open.
The Irish government has so far sent out 984,000 Digital Covid Certs via email and over 350,000 via letter, out of a total of 1.9 million that are to be sent out.
The DCCs are being sent out to people who are fully vaccinated as part of Ireland’s adoption of the EU-wide system from next Monday 19 July.
Speaking to the Oireachtas Transport and Communications committee today, Minister of State for eGovernment Ossian Smyth gave details of the temporary call centre that deals with queries relating to people who have received their cert.
The number for the temporary call centre is on the cover letter people receive with their DCC.
“That’s really if you have some emergency problem rather than having to be pushed up the list or just general questions. It’s being been run by Revenue and Welfare,” Smyth said
I think they’ve been getting 4,000 calls a day, I’m told, and they have 25 to 30 agents manning the phones. Next Monday it is increasing significantly that call centre will deal with regular issues like reissuing certificates, if you’ve lost your certificate or other problems like that.
Government Chief Information Officer Barry Lowry qualified that figure by saying that the 4,000 figure referred to people who called on the first day of operation on Monday.
He added that most of the people who called up did not stay on the line to speak to one of the operators but listened to the Interactive Voice Message (IVR).
“We’re hoping that that’s a sign that actually the IVR give them the information they wanted rather than they got fed up waiting,” he said.
Asked to clarify the number of those who hung up, Smyth said: “I think that 1,200 people continued to speak to an operator rather than giving up at the IVR stage.”
However, one caller to the line told The Journal that the initial IVR message didn’t have any useful information other than the government website.
“I was on hold for over 30 minutes from about 8.45am and was about to hang up when the call was answered. I was ringing about an error in my certificate. Once I got through they sorted the issue out really quickly and said they’d reissue my certificate next week,” she said.
She believes most people would have given up and hung up before 30 minutes.
The IVR message tells calls that information is available on the gov.ie website and that digital Covid certs are currently being sent out by email and post. It also advises callers that the helpline is prioritising callers who want to travel in July.
Roll-out
Smyth also provided the latest figures on the number of DCCs sent out to date, stating saying that the government is “ahead of schedule” in the sending of DCCs by email.
Those who were vaccinated through the HSE’s online registration portal will receive their cert via the email they used as part of that process.
People who were vaccinated through a GP or pharmacy are more likely to receive their cert in the post.
Smyth said today that about a million DCCs were to be sent via email and about 900,000 via letter.
Of the letters, Revenue is sending them out as part of the programme and are doing so at a rate of about 50,000-70,000 per day, with this rate expected to be ramped up over the weekend.
Lowry said it is expected that 90% of the 900,000 letters would be received by next Monday.
Of the 984,000 DCCs so far sent out via email about 7,500 emails bounced back, giving a bounce rate of 0.76%.
Smyth said that he was “very happy” with the low bounce rate and that those people are likely to have to call up the DCC call centre to receive their cert.
“When you have a database of emails and more than 99% of them are delivering, that’s an incredibly high quality dataset,” he said.
That’s probably because most people put in an email through the portal where they have to confirm their email and click on the link. When you write down an email on a form it’s not quite as good.
“I’m really happy with that bounce rate, it does mean that those people, 7,500 people, presumably will be contacting the call centre looking for a reissue and we will facilitate them in that way.”
Speaking about those individuals, Lowry said these people may be contacted by post if “robust addresses” are available but that they can otherwise contact the call centre.
The call centre is set to be live from next Monday and will be manned by 60 to 90 agents. The call centre will be operated from Ireland but some of the agents may be in the UK.
“The call centre will work electronically, so all of the staff will not necessarily be congregated in one place,” Lowry told the committee.
The 1.9 million figure mentioned above relates to people who are confirmed to be fully vaccinated.
Speaking about those who are due to become fully vaccinated over the coming period, Lowry said that they should get their DCCs between 1-4 working days thereafter.
Indoor dining
Speaking about the use of the DCC for indoor dining, Smyth said it is his understanding that this will be “one of the ways” that people can access indoor hospitality but that he is “not the authority” on this.
He referred to work being done involving the hospitality industry and officials from the departments of Tourism Minister Catherine Martin and Enterprise Minister Leo Vardakar.
“My role on this was to be responsible for making sure that the certificates got issued, that they got printed or that they go out electronically with barcodes,” Smyth said.
“The intention was that they would be used for international travel. A new decision came out of the cabinet on Monday that we would use them for another purpose, which was for entry for indoor dining in restaurants and pubs, so I think how that’s going to work in practice is being worked out this week between the hospitality sector, Fáilte Ireland and the ministers involved.”
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“we’re all going on a summer holiday”
@ed w: no more working for a week or two…..
@ed w: got mine last night. Bang on schedule
We’ll all be going around with Stamps and Tags on our Ears next like livestock
@Bren Dunne: only folks with big bull heads on them
If you call any government department, you will be waiting hours. This is no surprise. There should be a law that if the government or even a private company don’t answer the phone, then they are fined 10€ for every ten minutes longer that they have to wait.
@Tomo: 4000 calls in one day with 25 people manning the calls, that 160 calls per person in working hours say of 8 hours (7 1/2 if they take lunch) followed by admin related to the call, so they would be expected to take more than 20 calls an hour, so each call and follow up admin would take 3 minutes or less!!
Mine went into junk mail, that didn’t bode well. I almost missed it.
@Valentine Kane: It’s been well flagged that you should check your spam as this could be impacted by the level of security you have in your email settings. Instead of moaning why not applaud the excellent job done in getting almost 2 million of the certs delivered.
@lelookcoco: applaud… we’re one of the last countries in Europe to get these certs out…
@Hear me moan now: There will always be a small cohort who can never be pleased. I guess you’re just part of that group.
@lelookcoco: well said.
@lelookcoco: and some who will always be happy
@Hear me now: there he is….whingey mcwhingeface
@Terry McSweeney: I guess he is part of that group.
@Paul Furey: whinging again on here I see Paul, do you ever give it a rest?
@Eoin Jackson: It seems Paul has lived for a few decades and has never familiarised himself with irony.
Fkn joke. Every other EU country has an app running by July 1st. We get a pocksy PDF 3 weeks late. Wonder how much that cost and who got the brown envelope.
Pity they didn’t get the vaccine out as quickly as THE ID Certificates
@Margaret Kane: did they not? Seems pretty quick to me..I registered last week, got my appointment text on Sunday and I’m now sat doing my 15 minute wait after my first dose.
@Sam Harms: you must be friends with the health minister
@Margaret Kane: There no supply issue with emails and letter, there happened to be a few issues with the manufacturing/supply of vaccines. In fairness to the government, they have done a good job to give out nearly 5 million doses in just over 7 months. I assume you have some deep insight how they could’ve done it better?
@Margaret Kane: or the system is just working well?
@Margaret Kane: Do you realise Ireland has a higher vaccine uptake rake than the majority of Europe. That’s something to be happy about. You can’t create vaccines out of thin air, we got supplies at the same rate as the rest of Europe, the govt. Even ordered more now from other countries but a lot of more people want to take it. Also, my father got his vaccine within a few days of registering, it just depends on the area, and the supplies and uptake in the region. As useless as the health minister is, he was right that Irelands va came Programme is the envy of Europe. Many nations would love to have 70% of the pop already with a dose
@Sam Harms: almost 4 weeks gap between registration and first dose. Yeahh Its working fine alright.
@Margaret Kane: We have one of the highest rates in Europe, above almost everyone and our fully vaccinated rate is second to Iceland. So less of we are dong badly lark.
Got vaccinated in another country. How can I apply for it?
@Jeremiah A Craic: Try wherever you got vaccinated.
@Jeremiah A Craic: check with country you were vaccinated in. hse has no record of your vaccination
@lelookcoco: Fancy urself much pal!
@lelookcoco: I got mine in my left arm
Anyone know how to get a copy of your Covid cert from the paper version?
@Richard Day: can you scan it, or photo it?
@Richard Day: I scanned my paper copy onto the app Stocard (use it for clubcard etc). You also should be able to use Google pay, add a loyalty card, search for vaccine and scan the qr code
@Richard Day: covid19passbook.netlify.app
Prefix with https://
@Peter McGlynn: this adds it to your iPhone wallet.
@Peter McGlynn: very handy link thank you
@Peter McGlynn: Brilliant- thank you!
@Richard Day: Thanks everyone for the ideas…….
Got mine via email. But honestly it’s open for forgery just to get into a pub/restaurant. Obviously different if you want to go away.
@sally reid: Yeah, but if I was using a forgery and it was scanned by a restaurant it would come up with a different name to mine? Isn’t it up to the restaurant to cross-check with an ID to make sure it’s legit?
I’d rather say isn’t it up to the public not to use forgeries, but that’s just wishful thinking!
@sally reid: anything can be forged. Just be careful with it.
I tried about 10 times and it kept hanging up after one ring. I’d say that would count for a lot of the people who “hung up”!
@Dick Nagle: I’m curious to know what you and the 3,999 other people were calling about. You either got it or you didn’t. If you didn’t, have some patience, it will come. Any other queries can simply be answered by reading the website or following the news stories. Now hang up that phone one last time.
If my name is spelled wrong what can I do
@Mary Doyle: change you name
@Mary Doyle: I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is
@Mary Doyle: I’d love to know how they spelt Mary Doyle wrong
@Mary Doyle: I called today. Error is my own fault so not complaining. Was told it will be next Monday before revisions to the cert could be made.
It was a 25 min hold but I imagine after the first week or so that will be much reduced
@Sara McS: At least you’re honest. Why did you spell Mary Doyles name wrong?!
People were probably waiting so long that they hung up,
What if first dose is from hse and the other from gp? Is it going to be in the email or post?
@transik:
I’d guess it’s by how you’ve registered.
If you’ve done it online then they’d use your email. If you’ve done it via phone or personal then I’d say post.. if your email was never something needed at least.
@Peter: thanks Peter
I got my uncle’s one, as I registered him for the vaccine on the HSE website.
I got my two doses through my GP but haven’t received the cert. So I dunno how it’s working out.
@Seán Ó Briain:
Is your name and date of birth the same as your uncle?
@Seán Ó Briain: pretend you are your uncle and go mad on the indoor dining.
@J: And bring his credit card while you’re at it!
@Seán Ó Briain: I got mine through my gp as well. They will have registered you. Got my pass yesterday.
@Seán Ó Briain: is Bob your uncle?
Where the f is my covid cert
How this work for Irish citizens who got fully vaccinated outside the EU and will be in Ireland later in the year?
@Jferr2021: you get your cert from the Country you were vaccinated in.
@ᑕᑎíᑕᕼI: yes I already have documentation to prove I’m fully vaccinated. The question is will they accept this?! These specific covid certs get sent to people that are resident in Ireland. I can’t seem to find any info on how it works for irish visiting who were vaccinated overseas or other tourists for that matter…I’m sure I’m not the only one! You would imagine they would have thought this through?!
I was registered through my job wonder how I will get my cert?
Yeh mine too I wasn’t sure if that was a phishing email.
have your say