Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will answer that in this way. We have all seen reports in the media in recent years about fraudulent cases. Up to now, there has been little or no successful prosecution in cases of fraud in insurance because it was not a criminal offence. The Government brought in legislation to make perjury a criminal offence for the first time ever. It is only very recently that the Garda have the authority to pursue a claim for perjury as a criminal offence. That is a very new development and it will be helpful in terms of putting people off making perjurious statements in the courts.

Up to now when a judge on the bench or other person might make an accusation of fraud, it was sent to the local Garda division. I met Commissioner Harris last year specifically on this. The Garda now has one centralised area where all claims will be dealt with centrally but investigated locally. There will be consistency. What might be said to look like fraud or an exaggerated claim in one county might be considered something else in another Circuit Court or District Court. For the first time ever, the Garda now have legislation so they can prosecute people for perjury. The monitoring centre is located centrally in the Garda division in Dublin, in order that it is being done consistently across the country. That is a very new initiative. I do not know if there have been any successful prosecutions yet for perjury. There may not have been because it is a very new offence that was only introduced in recent months.