Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

On the night before my party's Ard-Fheis last year, I attended a wedding in Portugal. I carried out one transaction with my credit card in a restaurant. One month later, I discovered that an amount of either €2,500 or €4,500 - I cannot remember which - had been debited from my account. As already stated, the wedding was held in Portugal but the transaction to which I refer was carried out in the Netherlands. That is why I do not trust electronic systems. The bank was obliged to pay out the money in question because I was not at fault for the fraudulent transaction and had done everything above board. We are all aware of the scams that have been perpetrated in this country in respect of credit cards.

Deputy Shortall is correct, if the Minister wants to operate the new technology on a trial basis then he should by all means do so. However, the pilot project should be quite small in order that we can assess how the system works. I am opposed to the use of this type of technology at present and the Minister has not convinced to alter my views. The Minister stated that the Department has a good record. However, he recently informed a meeting of the relevant committee about the amount of money the Department had overpaid as a result of errors made either by computers or staff. I am concerned about the use of this technology and I will not be supporting its introduction.

See this speech in context