Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

What the Deputy is saying is well accepted by people, and certainly by myself. Whether the fraud concerns social welfare or tax evasion, both mean that honest businesses and taxpayers must pay for entitlements to which others should be contributing. According to an estimate I have used before, there is approximately a 1% fraud rate in the social welfare system. We do not know, however, because the information on this is quite sketchy. None the less, 1% of €20 billion is €200 million.

There is also an issue of the integrity of the system. Since the recession hit, members of the public have been contacting the Department of Social Protection in large numbers on issues that they are unhappy about. I will cite one example, if time allows. A non-residency project was carried out as one of the ongoing national projects. The special investigation unit focused on individuals who were suspected of not being resident in the State. Nearly 3,000 people had home visits and were interviewed about their claim status. A total of 308 claims were terminated as a result of the special investigations unit, with savings of €3.24 million to the Department. Those savings are important but what is also important is the confidence in the integrity of the system, so that contributors know that the money is going to those who are entitled to the relevant entitlements, such as pensioners and those on disability or invalidity benefit.

There is also a great deal of confusion about our system because people are allowed to work, and it is perfectly legitimate. They may be working part-time and sometimes their neighbours may think that is not permitted when, in fact, the system does permit it.

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