Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Given that there seems to be some uncertainty as to the number of such abuses — while the Minister spoke of a number of cases of which he is aware, he must accept that there may be many more cases of which he is not aware or which have not yet come to light — in trying to address all these issues, what additional security measures has the Department introduced to prevent the disclosure of personal information relating to social welfare recipients to whatever interest? To the Minister's knowledge, have concerns been raised in the Department regarding the feeding of information to commercial interests? I speak specifically with regard to insurance companies, an issue addressed in the House on a previous occasion. Recognising that such a practice would be an absolute breach of the data protection legislation, what steps are being taken to close off that avenue?

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