Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What is the position regarding the Garda fraud unit? When the Minister of State attended an earlier meeting of this committee, he said he did not want gardaí being taken away from an investigation into real crime to deal with fraud. We have established that fraud is real crime. I am not saying that we should stop members of the Garda investigating gangland murders and deploy them to the Garda fraud unit. We should have a Garda fraud unit. Senator Ó Céidigh brought forward the Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018 and the Second Stage debate took place in the Seanad recently. Equally, Deputy Billy Kelleher, has tabled Private Members' legislation that deals with people who make fraudulent claims and ensures they can be pursued for making fraudulent claims.