Vol. 406 No. 1
61 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Social Welfare if it has been brought to his attention that the vouchers issued to some categories of persons entitled to the free beef scheme were easily photocopied and that this was done by some unscrupulous persons resulting in serious incidents of fraud; and if he will ensure that measures are taken to prevent this occurring in the future.
The 1990 EC free food scheme operated in the two week period commencing Monday, 18 February 1991.
In the Dublin area, the distribution of free beef under the scheme was, as in previous years, handled by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Qualified claimants were given the free beef on presentation of an official advice notice issued from the employment exchange which dealt with the claimant.
Every effort was made to ensure that only those claimants entitled to receive the free beef did so. To this end, and following consultation with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, it was agreed that in Dublin, claimants to unemployment assistance who were entitled to the free beef would be given a separate notice on each of the two weeks for which the scheme operated. To reduce the risk of fraud, the notices were of a different colour for the two weeks concerned. In addition, all advice notices issued were endorsed with the relevant employment exchange stamp. The arrangements made were designed to minimise certain risks observed in previous schemes of this nature.
To date, there have been no reports of fraudulent claiming under the recent scheme. If the Deputy is aware of any incidents of fraudulent claiming I would be grateful if he would supply my Department with further details so that procedures can be reviewed in the event of the EC free food scheme operating again.
