Doherty calls on government to introduce Apple-style scam filter

Fine Gael MEP Regina Doherty has welcomed Apple’s introduction of a scam filter and encouraged the Irish governemnt to accelerate its own response to rising fraud.

“This proves it can be done. We now need to build on the momentum and move from intention to implementation,” she said.

Doherty said “Apple has acted decisively. Every operating system should follow suit and now’s the time for Government and regulators to step up and ensure Irish citizens receive the same level of protection.”

Apple’s move follows similar scam-blocking features already available on Android devices, with Google and Samsung offering such protections for some time.

Doherty welcomed ComReg’s new SMS Sender ID Registry, which will label scam messages from unregistered sender names from July 2025, and block them entirely by October 2025.

She described it as a “very welcome first step,” but stressed it won’t address the full scale of the problem.

“The registry is designed to stop impersonation scams that spoof trusted names like banks or delivery companies. But it doesn’t cover scam texts sent from anonymous or random numbers which still make up a huge volume of the fraud people are dealing with daily.”

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to examine the feasibility of a national SMS scam filter, something Doherty says should now move forward urgently.

“People are being targeted every day. This isn’t just annoying, for some it’s financially devastating. The tech exists, and we’re seeing it rolled out by global players. The feasibility phase is over, now it’s time to implement.”

She added “banks,, delivery services, Revenue, no sector is safe.”

“ComReg is finally moving, now we need the government to match that urgency and deliver full-scale protections for everyone. No more delays. Let’s get it done,” she said.