Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

This sounds like a real mishmash. Frankly, I would not support a proposal that adopts an old technology pretending it is a new technology. Will the Minister accept the costs involved in having a clustering system, and maintaining it because of new build and old buildings being demolished, is a costly approach?

If we can clear the data protection issue, the technology is available to have a unique-identifier system which would generate enormous benefits not least to Departments, but also to the emergency services and others. It is all contained in the report which I do not need to restate.

Will the Minister try not to straddle both sides on this matter? I would have more respect for him if he said he was sticking with the cluster system. While I may not agree with such a decision, at least it would be a position. To have two systems, however, on top of each other is nonsensical.

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