Vol. 474 No. 6
225 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Social Welfare his views on the number of people working under false names in order to protect social welfare benefits; the action, if any, he is taking to deal with this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3693/97]
The main methods of detecting persons who may be using false names in employment are through employer inspections and data cross checks arising out of notifications of commencement of employment in certain specified industries. The categories of employers obliged to notify have been extended to include the beef processing industry from 1997, and includes: construction, forestry, security, contract cleaning, the licensed bar trade, catering, private road transport and private road haulage.
Some 9,000 employer inspections were carried out in 1996 resulting in savings of £15.7 million and a similar number are planned for this year. These inspections comprise a number of tasks, one of which is to verify the identity of employees.
Where data cross checks reveal persons using false names the employers are visited and the matter is investigated.
