Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 414: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the existence of cross-border social welfare fraud; the mechanisms she has established to address cross-border social welfare fraud; the length of time she has been aware of this issue; the approximate number of persons her Department believes are engaging in this fraud; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4182/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of my Department. Over 600 staff at local, regional and national level are engaged on a full or part-time basis on work related to the control of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system.

Customers in receipt of social welfare payments are reviewed on an ongoing basis to verify continued compliance with requirements such as, in the case of jobseekers payments, being available for and genuinely seeking employment. Means tested payments are reviewed at certain intervals or when there are indications that changes in circumstances have not been reported to the Department.

In relation to cross-border control, procedures are in place to deal with ongoing referrals, fraud and non-fraud in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK. People who move from Northern Ireland to Ireland may have an entitlement to a social welfare payment. However, if there is any suspicion of a fraud being perpetrated, this is investigated by local Social Welfare Inspectors.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland was signed in October 2000. Under the aegis of the MOU, the Cross- Border Operations Forum assists and directs activities relating to the investigation of social security benefit fraud with a cross border dimension. It undertakes individual fraud investigations and larger projects and shares best practice in counter fraud operations.

Due to operational sensitivities the Department cannot release information regarding the specifics of control activities that target cross border fraud.

Where overpayments occur the Department seeks to recover the overpayments and in cases of serious fraud, the Department will use all legal avenues open to it to recover the money defrauded and seek redress.

In 2008 almost €476 million in social welfare payments was saved through fraud and error control measures which is an increase of €29 million on the previous year.

At the end 2008, 357 cases of social welfare fraud were forwarded to the Chief State Solicitors Office for the initiation of prosecution proceedings.

The Department is committed to ensuring that social welfare payments are available to those who are entitled to them but also determined to ensure that abuse of the system is prevented and is dealt with effectively when detected. In this regard the control programme of the Department is carefully monitored and the various measures are continuously refined to ensure that they remain effective.