Results 21,861-21,880 of 26,228 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Community welfare officers were transferred to the Department. They were being funded by the Department but they were employees of the HSE. How many of them have been transferred into fraud?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: We have had this discussion before.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will give Ms O'Donoghue my perspective on this, which is very simple. We are dealing with this on the ground every day of the week. The vast majority of people getting social welfare payments go about it in the normal way. Many of them are struggling and are under an awful lot of pressure. However, there are abuses of the system. For example, 84,000 people were on rent supplement at...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: With due respect, many of these people will not get in under RAS because they will not pass the standards laid down under it. They stay on rent supplement in the long term. The scheme at that level is open to abuse.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I take Ms O'Donoghue's point about the principal officers. For the general public and for the vast majority of people who are claiming social welfare in the normal way, it does them a disservice. There is a perception that we have not got to grips with fraud. I would like to hear someone on the airwaves from the Department of Social Protection at assistant secretary level, who is heading...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: That will be under local authorities. It will not be the Department's responsibility.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I welcome Ms O'Donoghue. I have previously raised the issue of fraud. It is much easier to ensure money is not paid to people who are not entitled to it than trying to pull it back or reducing it and changing the criteria for people who are entitled to it. Is there a fraud project team set up with a person leading it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am talking specifically about fraud.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is there a specific person with no other responsibility other than to be a project leader on fraud?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is there a principal officer grade with overall responsibility?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Who does this person report to?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many assistant secretaries are in the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does Ms O'Donoghue not consider fraud such a serious issue that it should be headed by someone at assistant secretary level?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am looking for a crack unit that does nothing else but fraud.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is that headed by a principal officer?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many people are in the team?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is that team based all over the country?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: In 2013 to date, how much has the team detected under the heading of fraud?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I think Ms O'Donoghue gave us the figure for 2012 on a previous occasion.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter - 24 Supplementary Welfare Allowance (18 Jul 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: That is not all fraud.