Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 55, to delete lines 13 to 26 and substitute the following: “(2) The database shall be the property of the Department of Social Protection for the purposes of payment of the grant and be subject to the provisions of data protection legislation.”.

I regret that the Minister of State is taking the flak in the Chamber and the senior Minister is not. I notice he is not at the McGill Summer School either. He has obviously taken flight.

It is absolutely abhorrent that these amendments are stuck on at the tail end of the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014. We are now discussing a database. Whenever I hear the word "database" my hackles rise immediately and I become deeply concerned. Databases contain private and personal information. What is involved here is a database for a water conservation grant. Nobody has explained to me what this grant is for and what one must do to get it, although last week somebody on the Government side was talking about fixtures and fittings that must be fitted. I am not sure what they are and I am still waiting for somebody to tell me. I have also referred the water conservation grant to the European Commission. It is not right, proper or possibly even legal to be given a grant for doing nothing. The crazy situation, as confirmed by Irish Water on "Morning Ireland", is that I can get the €100 grant and never pay my water bills. All I must do is register; I need not pay any fees. I can be quids in by whatever time the Minister starts taking people to the courts to pay their water fees, although I do not know how he will bring 57% of the householders of the country to court.

However, the issue here is the database. It is being created for the purpose of paying the grant. It is therefore the property of the agency that will pay the grant. The Department of Social Protection will pay the grant, so only that Department should have access to the database. The database should be created for the purpose of paying the grant and for no other purpose. The content of the database or the database itself cannot be handed over to Irish Water or to any other agency. It is the property of the Department of Social Protection.

That brings me to another question. Have we discovered yet how much it will cost to administer this database? How many people will be involved? What is the cost of generating the database? Will it be outsourced or will it be developed bespoke within the Department? What is the cost of administering it and of the staffing of this grant section? Has EUROSTAT or the European Union advised where we stand with respect to this grant? I see one or two Senators on the other side of the House looking at me rather strangely but if any of them can tell me of any grant one can get anywhere in the world for doing nothing, I would love to hear about it.