Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 28 May 2015

Public Accounts Committee

2013 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Chapter 10 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 11 - Control of Supplementary Welfare Allowances
Chapter 12 - Farm Assist
Social Insurance Fund 2013

10:00 am

Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

Yes. As with any effort to acquire more resources we made a business case for expanding the role and expanding the size of the SIU. When the suggestion was made that we might look in this direction or to see if there was an opportunity to work more closely with An Garda Síochána, we had to make a case to justify it. There is an expectation that by adding this resourceto the SIU, it will generate additional savings. The SIU target in total is, I believe, €75 million of savings this year. The expectation is that An Garda Síochána will make a serious contribution to that.