James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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The Department has accrued a debt then of €495 million, which is what is owed in outstanding welfare payments and overpayments. One could argue the point that those who are in receipt of it are also in most need. It is regrettable that such an issue should occur in the first instance because, obviously, we see it in our constituency meetings with constituents where this type of payment applies. The reason it bothers me is that we see people applying for things like the fuel allowance. Elderly people come in who are borderline able to qualify for it. I cannot count how many times we have had to send letters back and responses from representations where people have been €1 over and were told they cannot get a specific payment and all of a sudden, the Department has an outstanding debt of €495 million. I do not want to be firing stones because I know we are dealing with a very large budget of €16 billion-odd for 2022.