Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department processes in excess of two million claims each year and it makes payments to over one million people every week. It is important to emphasise that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them. The Department has a broad-ranging and comprehensive control strategy, which aims to keep fraud and abuse to a minimum. The emphasis is to minimise risks of fraud and eliminate incorrect payments.

Controls are exercised at both the initial claim stage and at subsequent stages during the claim life cycle. Claims are reviewed on a regular and targeted basis. At the end September 2010 over 546,000 individual claims were reviewed across all schemes. The Department has introduced measures, which are evidence based, to target control activity at higher risk schemes and categories of claimants. These include addressing residency risks in appropriate schemes. An estimate of the extent of fraud described by the Deputy is not available. However at the end of 2009 approx 10% of cases which were specifically targeted for residency reviews resulted in savings in Jobseekers payments while in the Child benefit scheme approximately 3% of overall residency reviews resulted in savings.

Specific controls to target residency as a risk factor include the following:

1. Nationwide residency checks were introduced for non-Irish nationals on a jobseekers payment.

2. New claimants for jobseekers payments do not receive payment into their bank account.

3. Stricter identity checks have been introduced in Post Offices throughout the country for people collecting Social Welfare payments.

4. A comprehensive set of rigorous checks are being applied by Local Offices and Inspectors on claims from people who move from Northern Ireland.

5. Officials also liaise regularly with colleagues in Northern Ireland and in Great Britain to establish if claimants are in receipt of welfare payments outside of Ireland.

6. The Department participates in multi-agency vehicle checkpoints with other agencies, 7. The facility to report suspect activity on the Department of Social Protection website was introduced early this year.

8. The Department's Special Investigation Unit is managed centrally since February, 2010.

Other measures which address control risk factors include the appointment of additional Inspectors. In addition fraud detection systems have been improved through data matching with other organisations. The consequences for social welfare fraud can be severe. Criminal prosecutions may be taken against persons who defraud the social welfare system and employers who fail to carry out their statutory obligations. The Department is committed to ensuring that social welfare payments are available to those who are entitled to them. In this regard the control programme of my Department is carefully monitored and the various measures are continuously refined to ensure that they remain effective.