Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is well aware, my Department takes very seriously criminal prosecutions against persons who defraud the social welfare system and against employers who fail to carry out their statutory obligations under social welfare legislation. This reflects the Department's specific obligations to ensure the welfare system operates in a fair and cost effective way and that public funds are used for the purposes provided by the Oireachtas.

Section 4 of the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 sets out to enable the publication of details of persons convicted of committing social welfare offences. The provision aims to make the Department's work in tackling fraud and abuse more transparent and increase the public's confidence that the social welfare system and the associated annual costs of up to €20 billion are secure from fraud and wrongful claiming.

In the debate on Second Stage of the Bill in this House I said the Government had agreed to consider an amendment to provide that only the names of individuals convicted where the fraud was for in excess of €5,000 would be published. The debate on Second Stage concluded on 4 October 2017.

I obtained Government approval to draft provisions for a number of additional items to be included in the Bill on Committee Stage subsequently. These provisions, relating to defined benefit pensions and GDPR, are currently being finalised with the support of the Attorney General’s office and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. The Bill was provisionally scheduled for Committee Stage on 31 May but that date was postponed, hopefully for a short period, to allow for the finalisation of the necessary Government amendments. When these amendments have been finalised, I will be seeking an early date for Committee Stage.

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