Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 299: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the discussions she has had in the past 12 months with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform or the Garda on the sharing of information to combat social welfare fraud; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32491/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department has an extensive legal structure to support the sharing of data with other Government Departments and specified bodies such as An Garda Síochana for the purpose of combating social welfare fraud. Data matching is a very effective method of identifying high risk social welfare claims for review.

The main example of on-going co-operation with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is data matching with the Irish Prison Service who supply the Department with lists of prison inmates on a regular basis. The lists are cross-checked to identify possible "live" social welfare claims. In such cases, the claim is terminated where it has been established that the claimant is the person who is in prison. In addition, a number of social welfare inspectors are seconded to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). The officers in CAB are actively engaged in identifying and targeting funds accumulated by criminals. They also investigate and review social welfare entitlements of people who are suspected of deriving assets from criminal activity.

The social welfare inspectors who are seconded on a permanent basis to the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) assist both agencies in the pursuit of their respective statutory remits with a particular emphasis on welfare fraud and breaches of immigration legislation. There is close co-operation between the Department and An Garda Síochana on the ground in relation to the multi-agency vehicle checkpoints and personation cases. The multi-agency checkpoints are set-up by the gardai and planned in consultation with other participating agencies. At the checkpoints, Gardaí stop the vehicles and refer certain vehicles to individual agencies where the occupants are interviewed. Staff participating in the checkpoints from the Department are drawn from the Special Investigation Unit, whose main duty is the detection and prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system. Cases of personation are referred by the Department to the gardaí for follow-up investigation and possible prosecution the Department's Central Control Division also deal with individual enquiries from members of the force.