Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Public Accounts Committee

Comptroller and Auditor General 2016 Report
Chapter 16: Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 17: Management of Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 18: Department Reviews of welfare Schemes, Social Welfare Appeals Process, Social Insurance Fund

9:00 am

Mr. John McKeon:

The other thing they are meant to do is work closely with employers to generate vacancies and jobs. All of that is specified. We send out auditors, unannounced, to examine what is happening in the offices. We have not encountered any issues in those audits so far. Again, if there are individual examples, I genuinely wish to hear about them. It is in my interest because I will knock on their doors and tell them to get their act together or else payments. We audit it. It is one of the range of services. They are meant to provide training on interview techniques, how to write a CV and to assist people in preparing the plan so it is not just left to the person to figure it out.