Social Welfare Fraud

Over 750,000 cases were reviewed by the office of the Social & Family Affairs in 2009, resulting in savings of €484 million through fraud and control measures. There were 620 staff involved in the investigation of fraud and new measures have been introduced to combat future fraud attempts. These include requiring jobseekers to provide photo ID when they collect their payment in person each week at the Post Office. A new Public Service Card with photo ID will be rolled out from 2010 which will provide a new secure card for some 3 million people. Read more

Inter-agency checks in towns near the border will counter welfare tourism and abuses while data matching will be completed with external agencies including the Registrars Office on Births, Marriages and Deaths, Revenue Commissioners, Department of Education and the Taxi Regulator.

Over 600,000 claims were reviewed with medical checks and certification for non-Irish nationals to prove continued entitlement to child benefit.

Over 5,000 anonymous reports of suspected fraud were made by the Public. Approximately 380 people were prosecuted in 2009 and were instructed to repay the money and fined or given a prison sentence.