Over 80% of adults in Ireland are willing to download a contact tracing app to their smartphone in order to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, however many also have concerns about privacy, a new survey has found.

The National Survey of Attitudes to COVID-19 Digital Contact Tracing in the Republic of Ireland involved over 8,000 people and was carried out by a team from Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software at the University of Limerick (UL) and NUI Galway.

According to the findings, 98% of adults said that they understand the concept of contact tracing and 96% said that it is important to inform the HSE of your close contacts if you develop COVID-19.

Some 82% said they were willing to download a contact tracing app to their smartphone, however over half of these selected at least one option from a list of potential concerns relating to privacy. These included worrying that the Government, technology firms or hackers might use the information gathered for other purposes after the pandemic.

According to one of the survey authors, Dr Michael O'Callaghan, a GP and researcher at the UL School of Medicine, these results offer a good insight into people's concerns when it comes to contact tracing apps.

"Some 41% of respondents could see no reason not to install the app. The remaining 59% of respondents selected at least one option from a list of 10 options, such as ‘I worry technology companies will use this as an excuse for greater surveillance after the pandemic'. It is important, therefore, that those particular concerns be addressed if we are to ensure the greatest possible adoption of this technology," Dr O'Callaghan commented.

He said that clear timelines on when the app would be wound down and information on how Bluetooth technology will allow information to be exchanged between phones "are important messages that need to be communicated widely".

According to Prof Liam Glynn of UL's School of Medicine and co-founder of #COVIDWATCHIRL, the downloading of the app and its ongoing use are two separate challenges. To ensure both occur, it will be essential to generate and communicate ongoing evidence to the public and all other stakeholders that such an app is useful to Ireland's contact tracing efforts.

"It may be beneficial to keep the public informed on key data relating to the app, including downloads, active users and numbers of cases where the app has helped contact tracing efforts.

"People have indicated a clear willingness to help, but experience from other countries shows that intent to download does not always translate into actually downloading and using contact tracing apps. Allowing the general public to see in real time the public health benefits of this app may help maintain public interest," Prof Glynn explained.

He pointed out that data from other countries suggest an initial big response from early adopters. However, this tends to be followed by a "swift plateau".

"However, these countries are reducing transmission and overall healthcare burden from COVID-19 effectively, so societal concern is likely to be declining. With the considerable uncertainty that prevails over the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems prudent for all countries to continue contact tracing app development and deployment," he added.

The survey took place in late May when widespread restrictions, which had been in place for the previous 10 weeks, began to be eased.