Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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559. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the cost of her Department’s special investigation unit to date including the wages of the 20 gardaí involved; the number of individual cases investigated; the number of individual cases investigated on foot of employer reports; the number of employer inspections carried out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26349/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The total cost of my Department's Special Investigation Unit in 2020 amounted to €7.25 million.  This includes costs in respect of Gardaí on secondment.  During 2020, the Special Investigation Unit carried out some 65,400 case investigations across all of the Department’s schemes.

As of the 7th May 2021, some 1,200 employers have contacted the Department through the employer support line, resulting in reviews of 3,200 employee PUP claims.

A total of 3,316 employer inspections were carried out by Social Welfare Inspectors within my Department in 2020. 

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.