Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Therefore, we check the photograph against the database and if somebody appears to be registered with the service elsewhere, for example in Tallaght, but also pops up in Carrick-on-Shannon, Killarney or elsewhere, the message will be transmitted that this appears to be the same person, giving rise to a query. Staff in social welfare offices have told me that sometimes when people are invited to have their photos taken, they say they are too busy at that point in time. Members may draw their own conclusions from that. Sometimes when people are confronted with the requirement for a photo, they decide they have another pressing engagement. Photos are very important in terms of identity. On this basis, last year the House agreed to legislation giving officers at airports and ports the power to stop people who appear to be travelling in and out frequently and the DPP has already taken a number of court cases arising from this. It is very important that people have confidence that the social welfare system has a strong structure to protect against fraud or abuse.

On the issue raised by Senator Cullinane, the overall extent of overpayments last year amounted to approximately €92 million. I can make the information on this available to Senators. Suspected fraud accounted for €34 million, or 38% of this and customer or third party error accounted for €40.5 million, or 44%. In many cases, if somebody is spoken to about an issue or if an issue arises - for example if social welfare inspectors enter a place of employment and find somebody who is not registered for tax and social welfare purposes - people often give the excuse that they just arrived in that premises that morning. Sometimes it is impossible to prove or disprove that, although the inspectors would obviously go over the records. Much of the error or mistake in regard to overpayments is down to customers supplying wrong data.

Another significant amount, €11.5 million, comes to light after somebody has died because of there being far more money in his or her estate than anticipated. The person may have been receiving payments for which, it appears from the estate details in retrospect, he or she did not qualify. Therefore, the amount of overpayment due to departmental error is only approximately 6% of the total. It is important people appreciate that and that is the reason I have been so anxious, as Minister, to set in train mechanisms that provide for the prompt and speedy recovery of overpayments. A significant proportion of these overpayments arise from fraud and abuse, and a further significant proportion arise due to customer error, where customers did not realise that if they were going to work, they should make that arrangement known to the social welfare office.