Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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73. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of calls and online reports that were received by her Department's anonymous reporting service in 2012 and 2013; and the number of these reports that resulted in action against an individual. [52045/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department accepts reports of possible fraud from members of the public in relation to the operation of its schemes and uses both a dedicated phone number and a facility on the Department’s website for this purpose. Members of the public are asked to provide as much detail as possible about the case they are reporting and they can do so anonymously.

Reports can be made as follows:

- By email:

- By phone: (01) 6732123, or (071) 9672648 or Locall: 1890 927999;

- By Post: Central Control Division, DSP, Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.

All anonymous or confidential reports are examined and, where relevant, are referred to the relevant sections and/or to the Department’s Inspectors for follow-up action. A payment is not suspended or stopped on the basis of an anonymous report, however, it may “trigger” the instigation of a review of a customer’s entitlement.

The following table outlines the number of anonymous reports dealt with in the Department’s Control Division in the period requested:

Statistics on the outcomes of anonymous reports are unavailable because while these reports are used to “trigger” or instigate investigations, they are not taken into account when the review of the customer’s payment is being decided.