Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy O'Dea on this matter. Care must be shown when making attachment orders. It is well and good that overpayments made to those in receipt of State moneys should be captured from payments made to such persons. While this is probably right and proper in the vast majority of cases, specifically when an award is being made to a person, people should be able to request that discretion be shown when such anomalies or cases arise. I cited the example of a senior citizen who applies for a sustainable energy grant to insulate his or her home before the arrival of winter. Such work must be paid for in advance, which means the applicant must obtain a small loan to pay the contractors perhaps €2,000 or €3,000 for the works. If it subsequently transpires that the person received an overpayment of €1,000 or €2,000, this sum will be taken in a lump sum from the grant of €3,000 available under the sustainable energy scheme before it is paid to the applicant. This is done on the basis that the grant is made by the State. Such a scenario would leave the individual in question with a bank or credit union debt and interest to pay.

The blanket capture of overpayments will not always work because hard cases will always arise. In such cases, the Department should consider payment by instalment. In fairness to local authorities and the Department, they have been willing to recoup overpayments by way of instalment where a person's sole income is derived from social welfare payments. The legislation was changed in the past year or two to increase the amounts the Department could recoup in instalments from a person's social welfare payment. I believe the maximum weekly instalment, which previously stood at €2, was increased to 15%, which means a weekly amount of €27 can be recouped from the maximum rate of jobseeker's allowance.

I note the contrast between these provisions and the provisions that apply to taxpayers seeking to have tax overpayments reimbursed. Such claims may only be made for overpayments made in the previous four years. In the case of the Department, however, I have with me a letter in which it is seeking to recoup, at a rate of €30 per week, an overpayment made in September 1984. In another case, it contacted a person requesting that an overpayment of €19.20 made in 2005 be repaid at a rate of €2 per week. Given the bureaucracy involved in issuing this letter, I assume it was not cost-effective to seek such a small amount.

All money owed to the State should be recovered, unless we agree to my previous proposal to introduce a social welfare amnesty and draw a line in the sand. It is handy for the Revenue Commissioners to draw a line in the sand under all tax owed for more than four years as this allows them to get away with not repaying people who either do not understand the taxation system or should pay more attention to their tax affairs. In some cases, the overpayment is caused by the complexity of the tax system or a taxpayer's ignorance of the reliefs available. After four years, taxpayers seeking to recoup overpayments in tax are told, "hard luck". The State, on the other hand, is always able to pursue overpayments.

I repeat the warning I gave on Committee Stage that this provision has the potential to create problems in certain cases involving grants, reliefs and so forth. I refer specifically to people on low wages who are not in receipt of social welfare payments. Repayments can be made by instalment in cases where the person who has been overpaid receives a social welfare payment.

However, because this is a lump sum coming back to somebody, whether he or she is in work or on social welfare, the overpayment could be deducted in full. That means somebody who has an expectation of money coming back to him or her could end up with a lot less or end up in the situation, as I stated, in the case of an energy sustainable grant or even a disability grant, where he or she has to fork out some of the money to get an extension done, for example, to facilitate wheelchair access. I want to warn the Minister and highlight that before she signs off on the Bill.

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