Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

This issue was raised at last week's meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts but the response was there were data protection issues that precluded the sharing of information between Departments. The Minister would have the support of this House, were he to amend the data protection legislation to make sure the Government operates in a single, joined-up manner. I refer to the manner in which information from a local authority cannot be given to the social welfare authorities, information from the tax office cannot be given to the FÁS office and information about a medical card means test cannot be given to anyone dealing with an application for supplementary welfare allowances. The Minister must do this and Fianna Fáil would support him in this regard.

I will conclude by stating that Fianna Fáil supports the overall financial parameters.

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