FF TD tells Dáil he will not give Irish Water his PPS number

Fianna Fáil TD Willie O'Dea told Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly in the Dáil tonight that he will not be giving Irish Water his PPS number.

“I have received no coherent explanation from Irish Water as to why I, as a citizen, should submit my PPS number and I want to tell you, Minister, I have absolutely no intention of doing so,’’ he said.

Mr O’Dea accused a company official of talking “incoherent gibberish’’ when asked about the relevance of the PPS number.

The Limerick City TD was speaking during a debate on a Fianna Fáil Private Member's motion calling for a review of Irish Water.

He said he would pay his water bill, but he would deduct the allowance to which he was legally entitled. He said that all of those in the company, including “consultants laden down with taxpayers’ largesse and employees laden down with bonuses’’ could come after him if they wished.

Mr O’Dea said he was lucky to own a second house in Limerick, which was used as a constituency office. He rang Irish Water with a simple query to clarify its category, whether it was similar to a holiday home or an unoccupied building. He was transferred to a number of people until the “key man’’ told him it was an interesting question and he would contact him on his mobile phone within an hour.

“That was five weeks ago and I have not heard a word back from that man since,’’ Mr O’Dea added.

He said that following a number queries from constituents about submitting their PPS numbers, he contacted the company again to clarify why it was necessary.

The first response, said Mr O’Dea, was “shameless blackmail’’ as he was warned that constituents who failed to submit their PPS numbers would not get their allowances. That was not the question the Irish Water official had been asked, he added

“He went into an explanation which, to my amazement, I could not understand….After a while I figured out it was a variant of the English language called incoherent gibberish,’’ Mr O’Dea added.