Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Public Accounts Committee

2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011

12:05 pm

Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

I agree with the Deputy and what I was trying to say was that since the community welfare officers came into the Department, we have been trying to emphasise their control brief. They have been working as part of joint teams with our inspectors, particularly on different projects specifically based on intelligence and information identified through the community welfare officers. Where we have developed integrated Intreo offices, community welfare officers are part of the integrated decision team. They are feeding their intelligence on fraud and control into that space. There is significant training on emphasising the control dimension and the need for greater exchange of information and intelligence across all streams in the Department. That has been happening.