Mr. John McKeon:

The difference between fraud and error is specified in section 302 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, where fraud is where customers fail to provide information which results in us paying them too much and where the failure to provide information, or the provision of false information, was a deliberate, wilful and knowing act. The onus of proof for fraud at the point of claim is with the claimant but on review the onus of proof is on the Department. If we are going to categorise something as fraud, we have to be able to say beyond a reasonable doubt that not only did we not get the right information from the customer and that we can see it was withheld, but we know that it was done wilfully, knowingly and deliberatively. That is the distinction.