The Data Protection Commission has said authorities are not tracking people's location with the new COVID Tracker contact tracing app.

The app was launched on Monday evening and has been downloaded over 1.1 million times.

It's designed to allow users be notified if they come into close contact with a person with COVID-19.

Deputy Data Protection Commissioner, Graham Doyle, said their GDPR experience helped health authorities with the new app.

Speaking to Jess Kelly for this week's Tech Talk, he said: "Privacy was at the forefront, and I think this shows how far it's come since the introduction of the GDPR.

"We've not only been doing it here in Ireland, we've been working with our colleagues in Europe, at the early stages in the process of developing these apps... to assess the data protection implications for the use of them."

Asked about online claims that the Government is now tracking people's location, Mr Doyle said: "That's not our understanding of it.

"The European Data Protection Board was very clear in guidance... that location data was not to be used. Location data is not used in the contact tracing element of the app itself.

"There is stuff there in relation to location data, but it's not tracking people's location. It's anonymised. It's done at a very high level."

He said both the HSE and Department of Health have been working to 'bust the myths' around the new app.

Mr Doyle stressed there is a 'consent element' to the new app, as users can choose location settings.

He said: "When you download the app, and when you're setting it up... it asks you if you want to provide this information.

"You give the information if you want to give the information."

You can listen back to the full interview on this week's Tech Talk podcast.