Mr. Paul Lambert:

That is the purpose of duplication. One would look at the variety of potential datasets that would assist in that. An electoral commission would consider whether the allocation, upon registration on the new database, would obviate the need for a PPS number or would require it for a specific amount of time up to the point of registration but would not be required after that. The commission would have to consider to what extent it would be able to rely on that identification number which will be unique and nationally based. It would have to consider what would need to be cross-referenced, such as people passing away. Is there scope for notification to the commission or for it to seek out public information on such matters? There are different issues and problems, some of which will be larger because of the number of people involved, and some of a lesser concern because of the number of people involved.

There are nuances from the data protection perspective which we have not got into yet. My comments, and those of the Data Protection Commissioner when he addressed some of these points, are highlighting these at a headline level. My overall point is that at some stage, whether it is during the process or at the electoral commission stage itself, the very detailed nuances and justifications for each of the individualised proposed purposes will have to be gone into.