Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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406. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the procedures in place to identify welfare fraud; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34958/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The majority of people in receipt of a payment from the Department of Social Protection receive what they are entitled to under the Social Welfare and Pensions Acts. Nevertheless, the Department recognises that abuse of the welfare system is an ongoing reality and must be tackled through a range of measures.These measures are governed by the Department’s Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy 2014 – 2018. The actions set out in the strategy are designed to prevent and detect fraud, to ensure effective oversight of schemes, to pursue prosecution of offenders and to ensure the recovery of any overpaid entitlements identified.

All Departmental staff exercise a control and compliance function in processing new applications and reviewing existing entitlements. The systems used to support schemes are designed to detect wrongful claiming and to highlight anomalies. In addition, the Department’s inspectorate undertakes detailed examination of claims on a risk assessed and random basis. In addition, at least three fraud and error surveys of Departmental schemes are conducted annually to assess the quality of claim processing and fraud detection. These surveys are published and subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General and their findings are used to tighten control measures around schemes, where this is found to be warranted.

My Department’s Special Investigation Unit comprises trained inspector and Garda officers and is tasked with undertaking targeted and systematic examination of claims to tackle fraud and to work with other enforcement agencies to identify more serious breaches of the law.

Cross-functional and targeted actions are undertaken - both internally and in joint operations with other national and international agencies - to ensure a strategic response to high risk sectors or where fraud is prevalent. In particular, actions are focused on sectors of the economy where there is a risk of concurrent working and claiming social welfare payments.

Overall, the Department conducts of the order of one million reviews annually comprising customer entitlement reviews, inspections and special investigations.

The Deputy should also note that the continued roll-out of the Public Services Card has considerably reduced the potential for identity fraud and the Department has deployed identity and analytics software and other intelligence systems to reinforce its fraud prevention work.

Members of the public play an important role in supporting these anti-fraud activities and some 17,000 reports from concerned citizens have been processed already in 2016.

The Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy 2014 – 2018 and annual updates on progress are published on the Department’s website: www.welfare.ie.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.