Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Kenny and others have set out squarely the issues under head 4. I agree with the point about the naming campaign. I, too, would like to know who came up with the idea. It was interesting that Bernadette Gorman asked whether it was a solo run by the Minister or whether the Department came up with this idea. She described it as a hate campaign because of the way it deals with people, many of them vulnerable. It is not that they deliberately defrauded the system but that they did not understand it or there were overpayments by the Department. A few cases have been highlighted by the Ombudsman, for example, when the mother of a woman who was mentally ill died, she was hit with a bill for €105,000. When it was investigated it turned out to be a mistake by the Department dating from 2010. The Ombudsman, David Taylor, decided it should not be followed up. The Department's role is to pay people, to look after them, and if there is fraud, to take the relevant action. Naming and shaming people in this way is very dangerous.

Under head 5, when I went to the Department with people who had been overpaid, the amount deducted could not fall below a certain level to ensure a living income, but 25% goes way beyond that. I have huge concerns about that. A deduction of 15% is bad enough but 25% is way out of line.

Has the Department checked with the Data Protection Commissioner in respect of the naming and shaming campaign?