Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 June 2015
22. Deputy Frank Feighan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the measures the Government has in place to discourage persons coming into the country and falsely claiming benefit; the measures in place to stop so-called sham marriages that enable persons to qualify falsely for benefit; the success rate to date; if this is an increasing or decreasing problem. [24633/15]
View answerThe issue of marriages of convenience or so-called 'sham marriages' is a complex one. The right to marry is a basic right and marriage, as an institution, has particular protection under the Constitution. The State’s duty is to protect the institution of marriage in legislation. EU citizens and their families have the right to move and reside freely within the territories of the Member States. These rights also apply to non-EU national spouses of EU nationals following the ruling of the European Court of Justice in the Metock case in 2008. The Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 includes provisions aimed at making it more difficult to broker a marriage of convenience in the State. The Act defines ‘marriage of convenience’ as 'a marriage where at least one of the parties to the marriage— (a) at the time of entry into the marriage is a foreign national, and (b) enters into the marriage solely for the purpose of securing an immigration advantage for at least one of the parties to the marriage'.
The legislation which was enacted in December 2014 has not yet been commenced. The provisions of the Act will be put into operation by an implementation plan involving both procedural and system changes. It is intended that these will be finalised as soon as possible. Discussions with the Department of Justice and Equality with regard to the cross-Departmental co-operation required to ensure that this issue is addressed effectively have been taking place, as part of the implementation plan.
Entitlement to certain social assistance payments and child benefit is conditional on a residence requirement, independent of nationality, which ensures a genuine connection between the applicant for or recipient of such schemes and the State.
The Habitual Residence Condition (HRC) was first introduced in Ireland in 2004 and amended in subsequent years, most recently in 2014. The HRC is provided for in Irish legislation, in accordance with EU legislation and with European Court of Justice jurisprudence.
Deciding Officers and Designated Persons, when determining whether a person is habitually resident in the State for social welfare purposes, will take into consideration all of the person’s circumstances including the person's length and continuity of residence in Ireland or in any other particular country, length and purpose of any absence from Ireland, nature and pattern of employment, main centre of interest and future intentions as they appear from all the circumstances.
The emphasis in the Department’s Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy is on preventing fraud and error from entering the system in the first place. In the context of persons coming into the country and falsely claiming benefit, the Department is continuing to develop and enhance cross-border and transnational structures and liaison to ensure that there is effective co-operation to prevent and detect social security fraud across national boundaries. The Department also has an ongoing relationship with the Irish National Immigration Service (INIS) and Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). Two Departmental inspectors are assigned to the GNIB on a full-time basis. Case by case information exchanges and data-matching takes places between INIS/GNIB and DSP on a systematic basis.
A number of other measures should also be noted. The Social Welfare Act 2012 made provision for social welfare inspectors to undertake power of enquiry at airports where social welfare fraud is suspected. In addition, from the beginning of December 2014, 20 Gardaí have been seconded to the Department’s Special Investigation Unit. These officers will ensure a greater presence on the ground and will increase the investigative capacity of the Department to prevent, detect and deter social welfare fraud.
Where fraud is discovered it is important that there are appropriate sanctions in place. In this context, it is the Department's policy to consider for prosecution cases of fraud against the social welfare system.
