Results 22,421-22,440 of 26,081 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 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Of the 90 people involved in the special investigations unit, how many came from the community welfare officers who were transferred to the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the Secretary General have an idea? Have any been transferred into the area?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Ms O'Donoghue thinks some have.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are on the same page. It is very difficult when we are cutting back on spending on a range of services and people see fraud occurring. I ask Ms O'Donoghue to take on board the point made by the Comptroller and Auditor General that this is an area the Department can examine so that the level of detection is higher when the Department's representatives appear here next year.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Looking at the profile of payments, the one payment that is increasing consistently every year is State pensions. Over the past four years, State pensions have risen by 17%. We have an ageing population and exposure in terms of the Social Insurance Fund. Has the Department carried out analytical activity in terms of projecting how to address the area? There are clearly shortfalls. I am...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I welcome Ms O'Donoghue and her colleagues. I will refer to two areas. Ms O'Donoghue has said there are three main functions - delivery of income support, activation and control of fraud. On the issue of fraud, any system must give the appearance of being fair. How much was recovered in 2012 in the investigation of fraud?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: What was the total amount recovered in 2012?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Was that out of a total budget of approximately €21 billion?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: On the €51 million recovered, what was the total value of overpayments?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: What was the total spend overall? Was it €21 billion?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the figure of €21 billion include the administration costs of the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: What is the total value of social welfare payments?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Approximately €20 billion is spent on scheme payments. Of the €92 million in total-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: It appears to be very low.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I have raised this matter previously and will do so again. Community welfare officers, CWOs, were always funded through the Department of Social Protection, but they operated under the HSE. How many of them transferred to the Department of Social Protection and when did they transfer?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: How many CWOs have been assigned to the investigation of fraud?

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: I wish to be very specific. In my experience as a public representative nobody has the intelligence CWOs have. They deal with people on the ground and administer the rent supplement scheme. They know what is happening. They are the ones with whom we deal on the front line in many cases. I cannot understand why a significant proportion of them were not assigned to inspection and fraud duties.

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 – Social Protection
Chapter 21 – Expenditure on Welfare and Employment Schemes
Chapter 22 – Welfare Overpayment Debts
Chapter 23 – Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Social Insurance Fund – Annual Accounts 2011 (14 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: No, I will be very direct. My understanding is that there were not as many involved in inspections in 2012 as there were in the previous year. One can have all the systems in the world, but they rely on intelligence about whether people are abusing the rent supplement scheme and so forth. CWOs have this intelligence in abundance because they are the first line of call. If people are...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Appropriation Accounts and Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 6 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Financial Outturn for 2011
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Banking and Insurance Measures
Chapter 5 - EU Financial Transactions (7 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Mr. Moran probably saw reports to the effect that the special liquidator of IBRC did not meet the staff representatives yesterday. It has now been appointed receiver of the Examiner group. If the Department interacts with the liquidator, can it ensure that the meeting takes place with the staff? How will the valuation process in respect of the loans in IBRC apply? Where do the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2011 Appropriation Accounts and Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Vote 6 - Office of the Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Financial Outturn for 2011
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 3 - Banking and Insurance Measures
Chapter 5 - EU Financial Transactions (7 Mar 2013)

Kieran O'Donnell: Can Mr. Moran first conclude the point about the staff?