Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was looking at the total allocation for social protection for 2017 and it is €19.854 billion. I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister on the amount of that allocation which related to fraud and the figure of €41 million was provided. I have done a quick calculation and determined that €41 million is one fifth of 1% of the total social welfare budget. It could not by any stretch of the imagination be described as a major issue. While it is part of the heads of the Social Welfare Bill which we will be discussing in more detail in a fortnight, I ask for the following clarification. My reading of the heads is slightly different from that of Deputy Kenny. I ask for an assurance that if we go ahead with publishing names, an idea I do not like albeit we do it for Revenue defaulters, no one who has not been convicted of social welfare fraud will have his or her name published.