Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

These provisions will be ready to go almost immediately, whereas other changes will take a number of months to implement. For example, the provision moving the social welfare week from a six-day week to a five-day week akin to the working week will be enacted in July.

Regarding inspectors at ports and airports and inspectors questioning landlords, the critical aspect that I am trying to develop in the Department is a special investigations unit. My predecessors started this work some time ago, but we are trying to expand and strengthen it to focus on specific risk areas. Recently, we identified up to 1,400 people travelling through ports and airports who, for one reason or another, were not entitled to claim.

There is another element. Gardaí, immigration officers and customs and Revenue officials work at ports and airports. It is key that social welfare officers be fully empowered to take part fully in inter-agency teams. Sharing information through such teams allows the most effective work to be done. This provision will enhance the powers to social welfare officers in that context.

While discussing this matter during our debate on last year's Bill, a question arose about whether senior departmental officials, senior inspectors and I required additional powers where there was a serious case of suspected fraud. This was the advice I received and I promised to introduce such a provision in the House. Following the lengthy and detailed discussions with the Attorney General's office regarding this Bill's strengthening measures in the battle against fraud, the Attorney General advised that, given that a working protocol had been worked out between the Irish Banking Federation, IBF, and departmental officials at the most senior level, namely, Assistant Secretary, principal officer and the head of the special investigations unit, the legislation enacted in 2009 by one of my predecessors was sufficient. I do not need to proceed with new legislation because the Attorney General has given a ruling. We are ready to commence this suite of measures almost immediately. They will allow for a considerable strengthening.

The PPS and social services cards comprise a longer term project. We started to roll it out last September on a trial basis in four offices around the country. Its roll-out will commence in full this year when we hope to issue several hundred thousand cards. Each card will contain a biometric-style photograph, be encrypted and carry a signature. The cards will be helpful to us. If new recipients of, for example, unemployment assistance and benefits want to sign on, they must visit their post offices or social welfare offices regularly. People will now be able to sign on electronically, which should considerably accelerate the administration, of which there is a great deal. The post offices are playing a critical role in this regard. After the cards have been rolled out, a recipient will be able to insert his or her card in a machine and an encrypted photograph of the person, for example, me, although that probably would not be very nice, would appear on screen. An official in the post office or the Department of Social Protection would be able to identify that the card's user was me and not my friend or someone else who was collecting the payment on my behalf because I had left the country and was far away. This is a critical measure and is being provided for in the Bill, but rolling it out will take a couple of years. The Bill's various provisions have different timelines.

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