Irish Water right to seek PPS numbers, Varadkar says

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has defended Irish Water's practice of asking for customers' PPS numbers when they register with the utility.

Mr Varadkar said there was a good reason for the company seeking this information, namely to ensure people didn’t claim two allowances.

“Only a couple of weeks ago, my dentist asked me for my PPS number,” said Mr Varadkar, adding that “barely a month” goes by when he isn’t asked for it.

Data privacy campaigners and members of the public have expressed concern about demand for PPS information from a semi-state commercial company who could theoretically be sold to the private sector at some stage in the future.

Speaking today, Mr Varadkar said the communications campaign on water metering has not yet been won.

“The Government has to communicate the good policy reasons behind water. Treating water isn’t free; it has to be kept in a reservoir and treated, and that cost money like any utility and had to be paid for.”

Asked about board appointments to Irish Water, he said he didn’t know the individuals involved but he was sure they were appointed for competency reasons.

People had a right to know about appointments to any State board, he said, but this didn’t mean the personal information of those appointed should be released.

Nursing homes

In relation to the lengthening queues to access the Fair Deal nursing home scheme, he said the Government had a plan to deal with this issue and he met the HSE today to discussion the options.

The “overriding problem” was that the funding for the scheme was capped; the money hadn’t run out but there wasn’t enough to cater for demand at present.