Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not suggesting that the Department write off debt. I am simply asking, in the case of my constituent, what the Department was doing for the past 26 years. Why come forward 26 years later? Second, is there a legal basis for doing that? I came across a case recently in which a person was told that he had an overpayment of €133 from several years ago and the Department has insisted, ignoring all representations, that he pay it back at the rate of €21 per week, which is pretty punitive.

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