Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I said, in many ways the provision here is a last resort because the attachment powers will be only exercised where the person who has been overpaid has failed to discharge or engage with the Department on an outstanding overpayment. One must satisfy that a reasonable capacity to repay exists, namely: that the person has sufficient earnings or money held on deposit so that reparation can be made in full or in part; a final demand has issued to the person concerned advising them of the consequence of not repaying; the overpaid person is given the opportunity to make any representations so that any factors associated with the recovery of the overpayment can be duly considered; the overpaid person has been formally notified of the intention to issue a notice of attachment should he or she fail to respond within a defined time period; and there are no alternative recovery options available.

In respect of other debts owed by the overpaid person, there is already provision to take account of the person's overall financial circumstances and within this framework, any other debts owed by the overpaid person can and will be fully considered. Underpinning these new provisions is the principle of the capacity of the overpaid person to repay.

For these reasons, I do not propose to accept the amendment. The principal part of the amendment concerns whether social welfare officers will take the person's general financial situation, such as other debts, into account. The answer most definitely is "Yes".