Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

There is another side to this argument. There are good and bad people in all walks of life. There are good and bad people signing on just as there are good and bad people working in the social welfare system. Will everybody be treated equally here? I deal with many people who tell me they have dealt with a bad social welfare official who neglected to advise them of their full entitlements and they did not hear of such entitlements until it was too late. When they subsequently went back to the person working in the office, they were advised they could not get back-pay as they should have known about it and applied for it, even though the official knew about it in the first place. If the Department is going to nail people for accidentally receiving overpayments, will we do anything to these people who do not advise claimants of their full entitlements? At times it is nearly as if they were handing out their own money and were on a bonus scheme for not advising people about entitlements. I get such reports from many people and I would like the Government to pursue those people also. If we are going to chase the small guy, we should also chase the big guy.

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