Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

Absolutely. There are 15 cases in which we have definitively identified the fraudulent use of identity for claiming. This has generated savings of several million euro for the Department already; it is an instant tool. When somebody comes in to claim and his or her photograph is taken for a public service card, that photograph is compared almost in real time with what is contained in the Department's existing database of photographs and it identifies potential matches.

Where potential matches are identified, they are eyeballed to ensure we are looking at the same person or whatever and then referred to investigation if necessary. As I said, there are 15 cases where there was suspected fraud and where we have been able to investigate, cease claims and generate savings for the Department.