Sinn Féin is seeking a special sitting of the Dáil next week to discuss what it says are serious concerns around checks by welfare officials at airports.
RTÉ News understands that the party's spokesperson on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Louise O'Reilly, has this evening written to the Ceann Comhairle seeking a Dáil debate on the issue.
She said the issue cannot be allowed to "slide off the agenda" because the Dáil is due to go in to summer recess tonight. It follows a statement from the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) in which it raised "serious doubts" about whether social welfare inspectors were acting lawfully when gathering information at ports and airports in relation to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).