Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 95: 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 gardaí on the sharing of information to combat social welfare fraud; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40630/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social and Family Affairs 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 used as a 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 quarterly basis. The lists are cross-checked to identify "live" social welfare claims. In such cases, the claim is terminated where it is established that the claimant is the person who is in prison.

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.

A number of DSFA 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 persons who are suspected of deriving assets from criminal activity.

DSFA social welfare inspectors are seconded to the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) to assist in the pursuit of the respective statutory remits with a particular emphasis on welfare fraud and breaches of immigration legislation.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau was established in 2000 with responsibility for all Garda matters in relation to immigration on a national basis. The main capabilities and functions include: the registration in the State of all non-EEA nationals; facilitating the exchange of Immigration data with the UK thus enabling the identification of Immigration offenders from one jurisdiction attempting to enter the other jurisdiction; tracking the details of non-Irish nationals who are granted leave to land or conditioned on entry to the country, those persons refused leave to land, as well as details of all deportation orders that have been issued by the Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform.

Persons who are found, as a result of an examination by an immigration officer, to have abused the State's immigration laws, work permit requirements or benefits system, and who have no permission to remain in the State, will not normally be admitted to the State. Others will be the subject of reports to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service so that their permission to remain in the State may be reviewed.

There is close co-operation between DSFA 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, Gardai stop vehicles and refer certain vehicles to individual agencies where the occupants are interviewed. Staff participating in these 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 DSFA to the Gardai for follow-up investigation and possible prosecution under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

The DSFA Control Division also deals with individual enquiries from members of the force.

In 2009 DSFA was provided with on-line access to information on the probate index of issued grants. In accordance with legislation a person in receipt of a means tested social assistance payment is obliged to notify the DSFA in writing of any increase in their means within a period of three months of the means increase occurring. The Estate Case Recovery Unit in SWS Sligo raises and collects overpayments from the estates of deceased pensioners who failed to disclose means, which would have affected their entitlements. The Department will be able to identify cases, where information regarding means was not notified, through on-line access to the probate index. The personal representative of a deceased person, who had been in receipt of a social assistance payment, must seek clearance from the Department before they distribute the assets from the estate of the deceased.

In 2009, at the request of DSFA, the Private Security Agency under the Department of Justice and Law Reform, supplied data on security licences issued. Details were matched against the Department's payment systems and resulted in 1,680 cases being referred for investigation. ^^ Pension Provisions. ^^

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she is in a position to publish a White Paper on pensions. [40733/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Since the publication of the Green Paper on Pensions in October 2007, the Government has taken several initiatives to respond to the immediate difficulties facing members of pensions schemes, particularly members of defined benefit schemes. We have moved quickly to assist pension scheme members through measures announced last December, and the amendments passed in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2009, earlier this year. These measures include the establishment of a pensions insolvency payment scheme and a reordering of wind-up priorities so that, in any defined benefit wind-up situation, employees and former employees who have not yet retired may still receive a large proportion of their benefits. The Government has also introduced provisions to allow for more flexible restructuring of pension benefits and stronger regulation regarding remittance of pension contributions.

The Government is aware that the wider and longer-term pensions policy issues require a comprehensive and co-ordinated response. Since the end of the consultation process last year, we have been considering a number of options to address the challenges facing our pensions system and which were raised in the Green Paper process. It is the intention of the Government to deal with all of these issues.

Over the last year, the economic environment has changed considerably and we need to ensure that any decisions we make in the pensions area are robust enough to withstand new and unprecedented challenges.

It is entirely appropriate that the Government takes the time to arrive at sound decisions about the future of our pension system, given the potential of such decisions to significantly impact on this and future generations. Our objective is a system which will deliver an adequate retirement income for all which is, at the same time, affordable and sustainable for the State and for those who sponsor and provide pension schemes.

The Government will continue to discuss further reform options for inclusion in the national pensions framework which will be published in the near future.