Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yes. The whole-time equivalent figure is 6,744. On the number of people targeting fraud, the main focus in the initiative is on working smarter, with better on-the-ground co-operation. It must be borne in mind also that large numbers of the public have been very helpful to us in identifying areas where they believe there may be a risk of fraud or abuse. I will get the Deputy the figures with regard to contact from members of the public this year. We have some 600 staff whose duties include some aspect of control work, for example, social welfare inspectors. We have 200 officers within that number dedicated to control work and some 91 people work in the special investigations unit. This unit targets serious areas of fraud and has worked on a series of areas over the past year.

We have a new residency project in the special investigation unit, focusing on individuals who are suspected of not being resident in the State and there are targeted reviews ongoing in that area. In addition, in the Social Welfare Bill earlier in the year, I gave special powers to social welfare inspectors at airports to question people who are coming in and out of airports on a continuous basis, where there is a belief that they are coming into the State to claim payments but are not actually resident here. Members may have seen reports of a court case during the summer concerning an incident at Cork Airport. Those powers were activated under the Social Welfare Bill 2012.