Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I seek an urgent debate in the House on the issue of social welfare fraud and the manner in which this issue is being raised in the media. It is being reported that non-nationals are flying in here to collect social welfare benefits, but social welfare fraud is a wider problem. There has been cross-Border social welfare fraud for years. Irish people have been travelling to the United Kingdom to collect benefits there as well as collecting Irish benefits. Considering the number of non-national people living here we must be careful that there is not a witch hunt of non-nationals because of our failure to police social welfare benefits. Social welfare fraud has always been a serious matter and we need to be careful about how we report it so as not to engender a racist attitude towards non-nationals, of whom a large number live here. I ask that we have an urgent debate on the issue of social welfare fraud and how it is reported.

Many comments have been made from the Government side of the House about how incompatible Fine Gael and Labour policies may be, but it was strange to hear a Minister this morning urging her coalition partners to support her policies. Maybe the Minister should tell us whether there is dissent within the Cabinet about her policies. The Leader might raise that issue for us.