Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

Is this particular emphasis on child benefit a new initiative? How much money has been lost in the past few years?

Of the cases referred to the Office of the Chief State Solicitor for 2005, 2006 and 2007, there does not seem to have been one case of child benefit fraud referred by the Minister's Department. If there was a potential for several millions of euro in savings from July to date, this begs the question as to how much could have been saved each year for the past three years, which are the statistics available to me. It seems clear that the majority of cases referred to the Office of the Chief State Solicitor are with regard to jobseeker's assistance and jobseeker's benefit. Is it the case that there is more fraud in that area? From what the Minister said, it seems there has been quite a degree of fraud in the child benefit area, yet it does not appear that one person has been prosecuted. Can the Minister explain this?

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