Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the witnesses. As I say on each occasion, they are in a very efficient Department. If the HSE and a few more organisations were like it, we would have a much better country.

With regard to some of the specifics, I want to touch on a couple of different topics, the first of which is the overpayments issue. The Department recouped €70 million in overpayments in 2013. It states in the document that its target for this year is €75 million. If somebody is owed arrears from the Department and it is spotted that there has been a previous overpayment, the sum is deducted from the arrears. That is fine and I have seen it happen. It is right. Can the Department give me a figure for the value of the arrangements it has put in place? Definitely in recent times I have encountered many cases in which the Department settled for a bit less than the 15% it was looking for. Aside from what it actually collected in 2013, or its target, what was the value of the overpayments in respect of which the Department has arrangements in place for collection? In other words, the Department might have an agreement with a person to take €20 per week over two or three years to clear a debt. The Department is happy with that. If the Department does not have the figure, it should send it on.