There are two main tech questions around introducing a system to only let vaccinated people into restaurants and pubs.

First, is it technically feasible to reliably and quickly tell who’s vaccinated and who isn’t?

Second, is it realistic to expect such a system be used by restaurants, pubs and patrons of all ages?

On the first question, the answer is clearly yes. A handful of other European countries are currently operating a version of this system. Most use the same premise – you get a QR code for your smartphone, or a printout of the same, that has been verified by an official vaccination authority. That unique code says you’ve been vaccinated. The restaurant or pub staff member can read that code, and its verification, from their own smartphones.

If any further assurance is needed on the spot, there are one or two basic details in the code’s verification, including your name.

The basic idea isn’t that different to what’s coming into effect with the imminent European digital travel cert. So it’s probably considered OK regarding GDPR and data privacy guidelines.

Can it be faked? Yes, insofar as a code can be photocopied or digitally copied, even though it would identify you as someone else when scanned (which is why a fraud is unlikely to succeed at an airport). But even if there were some copied codes doing the rounds, would that be a reason not to do it? The overarching purpose here is to cut down infection odds while facilitating life and business to go on – not a 100pc foolproof technical system that could never be defeated. So while a small amount of blagging is to be expected, copied codes may not be the kibosh that some might tout it to be.

The real challenge would seem to be the second issue: would restaurant and pub owners, and their regulars, feel that it was a workable system? Would a rural bar manager who has known his loyal customers for 30 years feel that it was an unacceptable breach of faith to ask those same customers to verify their status via a beep on a smartphone? Would it feel dystopian to ask as much from certain types of vulnerable regulars, such as those who are elderly and live alone and who maybe don’t download apps?

To me, these feel a little more like objections from five or 10 years ago than the reality of the world we all live in today.

On the question of older people feeling alienated from things such as smartphones (with their QR codes), this has shifted radically in the last five years. The notion that our parents and grandparents don’t use Whatsapp or Facebook or Google or Zoom holds less and less water.

Whatever holdout mentality there may have been to basic things like smartphones have been thinned out by a pandemic where video calls and Whatsapp messages have become standard among almost every age cohort in Ireland.

So whatever about the culture around asking people for their vaccination pass at the door, I’m not sure we do this debate any service if we imagine that it’s impossible because older people are all still clinging to their Nokias. 

 A very big house in the country

For some, it’s the ultimate trophy: a 27,000 square foot classical mansion with a 1,100-acre estate containing some of Ireland’s last remaining ancient woodlands.

But for Stripe’s co-founder John Collison, buying the ginormous Abbey Leix estate is likely to be more of a conservation project.

I can’t imagine there will be many Jane Austen-style balls or society events held there. Or even him putting a swimming pool in. From what I firmly understand, he’s not going to do much at all to it, apart from making sure the whole thing stays intact.

This idea of acting as a custodian or a steward for what’s there rather than someone who bends a great national asset to his own taste isn’t unique among wealthy Irish people. But it is still notable to see it from a young Irish business person who looks likely to be the country’s joint-richest citizen in four or five years.

At 30, with at least a few billion already under his virtual belt, Collison might be tempted to look to the likes of Oracle founder Larry Ellison or the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, with their mega yachts and professional sports teams.

And who would blame him if he did? Who among us does not have a list of stuff we’re ready to splash out on when we win next week’s Euromillions? (I, for one, already have Kylian Mbappé’s representatives on alert for when my Powerball-funded Liverpool takeover happens next month.)

But this just isn’t Collison’s idea of a good time. Both he and his brother Patrick seem genuinely into big ideas and big projects, especially environmental ones. They don’t take commission, for example, on transactions made by companies toward removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (a feature called Stripe Climate). In some ways, Stripe itself is a big idea.

Still, it will always be a challenge for many of us to understand how a person can ‘make billions’ and not want to act like Alan Sugar or Bill Cullen. Why doesn’t John Collison have a large personal jet? Or a gold toilet? Or a collection of Impressionist paintings? Or a popstar girlfriend?

How dare he not live our Gordon Gecko dreams?