Liz O'Donnell
Ceist:13 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Social Welfare the sections within his Department and the number of staff currently employed by his Department in the detection of social welfare fraud and abuse.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Fraud.
The detection of fraud and abuse of social welfare expenditure is an integral part of the work of my Department. All officers involved in the processing and payment of social welfare entitlements have a control function which involves the prevention and detection of abuse of the schemes and the elimintion of fraud.
There are also specific units, which work at local, regional and national level within my Department whose primary responsibility is to seek out and identify specific forms of abuse and to devise appropriate measures to counteract these. They carry out inspections of employers in relation to their PRSI obligations, investigate cases of concurrent working and claiming of social welfare benefits, review claimants' means for assistance payments and monitor their ongoing entitlements to social welfare payments. There are approximately 530 staff involved in this work.
The work of these units has a positive and significant impact in reducing the level of fraud and abuse and thus helps to ensure that moneys are available for those genuinely in need.
I would like to take this opportunity to warn people who are currently abusing the social welfare system that all resources available to my Department are clearly focused on stamping out abuse and the full rigour of the law will be applied. The Deputy will be aware that I have introduced a significant number of measures backed by legislation over the years, including penalties with fines of up to £10,000 or up to three years imprisonment or both. I will continue to ensue that any further necessary measures will be applied.