Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I asked what the database is for. If all the Government wants to do is to pay the €100 grant, all it needs to know is the name and address of the person and whether it is the person's principal private residence. That is all the Government needs to know - nothing else. What is all this other stuff for? Why is the Government looking for this information? Now the Minister of State has told me that the information that is inputted into the database is the property of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. How are we going to transfer the information in that database from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to the Department of Social Protection without breaching data protection provisions? Why are we setting up a database for residents all over the country when we just spent €27 million putting a postcode system in place that gives us the address of every single residence in the country?

Senator Mullen addressed the issue of rural dwellers. I do not begrudge rural dwellers one cent of the €100 grant. Quite a number of my relations are rural dwellers and I hope they all get the grant. They all have their private wells and septic tanks so I am sure they will use the €100 grant wisely. In respect of the notion that we might use it for education, what in the name of God is the Government thinking of? Are we going to run classes around the country on what type of fitting to use? In respect of the fittings listed by the Minister of State, where does it say in the legislation that I must use any one of those fittings to get my €100? It is absolute nonsense.

The database is a nonsense and the whole scheme from the day it was conceived is a nonsense. If the Government provided local authorities with the money to develop the system that it is squandering on Irish Water, we would not have the problems we have right now. I believe that €850 million is the figure as of last Sunday and we do not even know what interest rate is being paid on the last borrowings. We can be sure of one thing. It is so uncertain that it will have the money to pay it back, the interest rate must be very high, which is why we are not being told. We are talking about a database. If it is to be created, it must be created for the Department of Social Protection. Once it has completed its purpose, it must be destroyed. We have already seen what happened with the PPS numbers. Let us not go down this route again. What is happening here is a nonsense and needs to be stopped.