Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I think these amendments are very important because the collection of PPS numbers and the popular belief that they could be sold to third parties were huge issues. The letters that people received from Irish Water stated that the numbers could be sold in future to another company as assets and this is what really raised the ire of the Irish people. Deputy Catherine Murphy and I tabled an amendment to the Social Welfare Bill a couple of weeks ago requesting the removal of this measure and we were told provision would be made in this legislation to allow for same. As Deputy Murphy said, the Data Protection Commissioner should verify in a report that PPS numbers have been wiped from Irish Water's system. If the PPS numbers have been deleted, will new application forms be circulated or will they remain as they are? I support these amendments and hope the Minister accepts them as they amount to a simple request.

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