Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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101. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of fraud cases with social protection payments detected in each of the past five years. [6636/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Overpayments of social welfare entitlements can occur for a number of reasons, including through error on the part of either the customer or the Department or where a person has provided false or misleading information. Persons who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled.

Suspected fraud cases arise where a deciding officer is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence that a person deliberately provided false or misleading information or wilfully concealed relevant information in relation to their entitlement. The Deputy will appreciate that there is a high evidential standard to be met in such cases.

The table below sets out the number of overpayments raised and the associated value of those cases where an element of fraudulent activity was suspected in the years from 2020 to 2024. Data for 2025 is currently being audited.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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102. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he is aware of cases in which a person has fraudulently claimed carer's allowance for another person who was unaware of the claim made in their name; the checks which are made with the GP who signed the form, that they are the persons own GP. [6637/26]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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When an application for Carer's Allowance is received by my Department, it is referred to a Deciding Officer for decision. The application is decided based on the details provided on the application form and supporting documentation supplied by the applicant.

The Department does not have access to GP registration records and therefore cannot verify whether an individual is registered with a particular GP. However, it is an offence for a person to knowingly make a false or misleading statement or to provide documents or information which they know to be false in some respect for the purpose of obtaining or establishing entitlement to a social welfare payment.

Preventing fraudulent claims from entering the social welfare system or carrying out review activity to identify possible fraudulent claims in payment are key requirements for my Department.

Suspected fraud cases arise where a Deciding Officer is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence that a person deliberately provided false or misleading information or wilfully concealed relevant information in relation to their entitlement. There is a high evidential standard to be met in such cases. When my Department finds evidence of fraud, an overpayment is raised and pursued and in certain cases, the individual may be considered for prosecution.

If there is a particular case that the Deputy has in mind, please forward the details and I will have my officials examine it.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.