Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

There were many events during the Christmas and festive season which warrant comment today, one of which I would like to mention, namely, the death of Mr. Jens Bang, a Danish citizen and former EU Commission official and my father-in-law. I have a specific reason for mentioning this event. In Denmark, when a person dies, the death is recorded in a central register, thus ensuring all public authorities, including the tax authorities and those who deal with pensions and social welfare issues and the electoral register, as well as banks, doctors and dentists, are immediately informed of the death. That is how the Danish system works. This means that in Denmark it is not possible for a person to claim for 23 years the pension of a dead person, as occurred here and reported in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 15 January. The amount involved was €140,000.

We have had repeated public statements from the Minister for Social and Family Affairs on the need to tackle social welfare fraud and reports on this matter from the Comptroller and Auditor General. There are also problems with the electoral register. Late last year there was reference to dentists arranging appointments for dead people. Such instances of fraud and criminality are resulting in bleeding of funds from the public purse. We need to consider the introduction of an integrated civil registration system as in place in Denmark to ensure our public authorities have the basic information required to deal with fraud, the cheating of the system and ensure they are in a position to provide an effective service. We have a PPS number system, but it does not work. There have been recent reports of PPS numbers being traded. In investigating issues for a few individuals I learned that people often have two PPS numbers accorded to them, which is creating problems in the system. We need to put in place an essential administrative infrastructure in this regard. A starting point should be the introduction of an integrated civil registration system of the type mentioned. I ask the Leader to allow time for a debate on this matter with a view to dealing with the issue of wholesale fraud on the public purse at a time when the public finances are so stretched.