Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The key aspect of fraud prevention and control in this case is to ensure that appropriate sanctions are applied in instances for social welfare fraud. The emphasis is on fraud - wilful false statements, concealment and wrongful claiming - not on someone making a mistake. It is important to state that. Where social welfare fraud has been detected, effective debt recovery is an integral part of the deterrent approach. It creates a climate where the word goes out that if people defraud social welfare the money will be recovered.

In response to Deputy Cowen's point, I asked departmental officials to examine the distinction between fraud and an accidental omission or mistake which was not intended to be fraudulent, which is what he is referring to. For example, a person may apply for jobseeker's allowance and be entitled to the payment because he or she is genuinely seeking employment, but may subsequently commence employment and fail to notify the Department of the change in circumstances. He or she must sign a declaration each month stating that he or she is unemployed and entitled to the payment. In that case, the full overpayment would be claimed, correctly, because the person is signing on for jobseeker's allowance and working at the same time, as was shown in the TV3 programme. That is not acceptable, and the word must go out. That is what fraud is.

In another example that happens occasionally, a person applies for a one-parent family payment and has a genuine entitlement to the payment, but subsequently gets married abroad and, after returning to Ireland, continues to claim one-parent family payment. That is, she fails to tell my Department-----

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