Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. While this is no reflection on him, I hoped that the Minster for Employment Affairs and Social Protection would come here because it is under her remit.The Minister of State will know where I am coming from in terms of trying to solve some problems.

I invited the Minister here today because I am concerned about the situation in which many families find themselves when they discover deceased parents or relatives have been overpaid the non-contributory pension. In the vast majority of cases, no reviews took place to ascertain changes in circumstances and elderly persons had no awareness they were claiming something they were not entitled to. For instance, a person may have had a life insurance policy, a slight increase in an English pension or some other change which, under the strict legislation regarding pensions, would have reduced the weekly payment the person received. I completely understand that to knowingly claim something one is not entitled to is fraud and is not acceptable. The figures that were released earlier this year show that the vast majority of social welfare overpayments occur as a result of mistakes rather than as a result of fraud, which represents only a tiny percentage. We are dealing with people who are elderly and often ill and who have difficulty understanding written communications on changing rules and regulations. We have to have compassion and some room for error in such cases. I have seen bereaved families distraught when their deceased loved ones were criminalised because they had not understood the instructions. One can say they are not criminalised until they come to court but they are deceased people who were straight and honest all their lives but when they passed over their families were told they had done something very wrong. It is really upsetting for people who are already grieving. It is not right. We have to ask if we can reasonably expect a frail elderly person enduring all the health challenges that come with ageing to be aware that a failure or error has occurred. Will the Minister of State ask for compassion and understanding to usurp the need to recover overpayments?

I am also concerned about the fear many elderly people experience when claiming State payments. There has been a huge drive to put people off payments and to recoup everything that can be recouped for the State. Does the Minister of State have any figure for the underpayment of moneys that people are entitled to? Many people are so fearful that they do not claim things they are entitled to. Elderly people, who have contributed much to society, should not have to live in fear of payments being taken from them. These people are made to feel really vulnerable and violated while strangers go through their bank or credit union accounts. They are bombarded with demands for the most private and intimate details. I talk to these people all the time. They are asked for months and months of bank statements and asked if they are sure they do not have other bank or credit union accounts. We have to achieve a better balance in how we treat these people. We do not want people claiming things they are not entitled to but we do not want people frozen in a situation where they do not claim things they are entitled to.