John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach and I would appreciate if he might add on the time from the interruption. Is it because Sinn Fein wants to keep this voter system at arms length from the Data Protection Commissioner, DPC, or because the secret database is a well-financed Sinn Féin asset and was not declared by the party in its Standards In Public Office Commission, SIPO, returns? This seems to me like Cambridge Analytica meets Ardoyne, via Serbia, Frankfurt, Manhattan and London. I suspect even Edward Snowden would find it difficult to get to the bottom of this sophisticated cyber operation.

Sinn Féin says that the Abú system is just the electoral register. That argument does not stand up to scrutiny because everyone in this House knows there is no centralised electoral register in this country. There are 31 individual registers across 31 individual local authorities. It seems that the Oireachtas database is good enough for every other political party in this country but it is not good enough for Sinn Féin.

I welcome the fact the UK data watchdog has joined the Irish DPC in asking questions of the Sinn Féin Party and I certainly hope the data protection officer in Germany will do likewise.

Does the deputy Leader agree with me that the only way this controversy can be brought to an end is for Sinn Fein to decommission this database and that, in the context of the electoral reform Bill and the wider discussions on that, we need a very serious debate in this House on this matter?