Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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184. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of social welfare payments that are collected once every seven or eight weeks in south Tipperary; if there is a large number of Ukrainians collecting their payments once every seven to eight weeks; the investigations carried out where a payment is collected infrequently, that is, once every number of weeks; his views on reports that Ukrainians are flying in and out of the country to collect payments, staying one night and leaving again; the measures taken to avoid welfare tourists in this manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30856/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides two main payment options for its customers: payment in cash at post offices (EIT) or payment directly into customer accounts by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT). The payment options a person may avail of depends on the payment they are receiving, for example, Jobseeker payments for people who are fully unemployed are only paid at the post office whereas pensions may be paid into a bank account. Payments made to the post office must be collected within a certain period of time, depending on the scheme. The Department does not collate statistics on the frequency of collection, however if a payment is not collected within the specified timeframe it is returned to the Department.

There are a number of control checks in place to ensure people, including Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection, in receipt of payments continue to meet the conditions for the payment they receive, including checks to ensure they are resident in the country. These checks include in person ‘signing-on’ at Intreo Centres, review of scheme entitlement, and collection of payment at the Post Office. The results of checks to date do not indicate abuse, and it is clear from the sign of life work undertaken by the Central Statistics Office that Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection are closing their claims when they leave the country.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.