Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

Basically, the system has streamlined and automated both the recording of overpayments and the debt recovery of those overpayments. As with any of our systems, there are ongoing checks, including management checks. This is to make sure the system is recording the information accurately. We have been able to deal with the identification of overpayments and put the recovery of those overpayments in process far more quickly since the introduction of the system than we were able to do previously. Previously, it would have been a quite manual process. Effectively, the new system, since full implementation, is now allowing us to recover approximately €7 million per month. This means that, for the people involved, there is very speedy identification of where a problem has occurred. It means there is no time lag creating additional difficulty for individuals concerned.

With the new legislation that we received a couple of years ago, the level at which we are able to recover overpayments has increased. Our deciding officers have been given increased scope to recover an overpayment quickly, which, again, has improved our ability to redress problems in a much more speedy fashion.