Mr. John McKeon:

The Chairman asked about write-offs. A paper is being prepared by Ms Stack and our control staff which will include a recommended approach to structured write-offs. We have not had such write-offs in the past two or three years. I will be sending that document to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The Chairman's comments may well be helpful to that process and I thank him for them.

The Chairman is correct about the average value of debts not necessarily being reflective of what is owed in most cases. In the case of the one-parent family payment, for instance, the average sum owed in instances of suspected fraud identified this year was €3,300. It is the case that a handful of egregious cases may skew the average. There was one listing for more than €200,000 in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. I agree that we need to be conscious that such instances can affect the averages.

On the review of forms, we have already conducted a review in the case of carer's allowance and domiciliary care allowance. As we move on to reviewing the disability allowance form, we will take the Chairman's suggestions into account.