I think it’s more of the case of people who are claiming for years…ie jobseekers benefit if working, lone parents payment if in a relationship etc.

that is the purpose of the proposed legislation. If you hand it back and it is a genuine mistake you can still be punished. No one benefits from that, neither the state or the recipient. As for investigating every claim/refund etc then that would cost a lot more than would be saved.

Amnesties and not paying back money are usually confined to sums that run in to the hundreds of thousands or millions in this state.

I’m guessing you’d be minted Damo!

Imagine the batterings if the list of who made the reports got into the public domain.

Well every day or so someone on this site reckons they know who someone who is defrauding the state. But they never report it.

I’d have thought that the good of the state would be enough reason to grass up a fraudster. The act of stopping a crime though doesn’t seem to be enough.

So I’d be happy to see some sort of incentive put in place.

I wouldn’t profit from it. None of my friends are criminals.

That you know of…..!
I doubt people broadcast it when they are defrauding the state?!

Ahh, the bauld Wolfe Toner.

Not so Ben, only this week my husband was telling me of a friend of ours who lost her job late last year, before Christmas she was given an over payment which she tried to return with a visit to the local SW Office, and she was given a fob off and told to lodge the cheque & that in time it would be sorted if there was a problem. She made a second visit and was told similar, then her most recent trip this week she got an awful reception when she arrived down again to follow up on it and has been told she has been flagged as a fraudulent claimant which is impacting her rightfully due payments. She was clever enough to have the first official she dealt with sign the reverse of the cheque with a note that she’d attempted to return it, so she isn’t taking it lying down but apparently there is little they can do at the local office and her case is being referred to a central dept to try sort it out.

She’s done nothing wrong, in fact she has been honest and seeking rectification from day one, and is now mired in a mess of their making.

Karen, your friend suffered from maladministration which has nothing to do with the law. She was the victim of typical public sector employees who are not interested in dealing with any problem outside the norm and cannot be bothered to get off their backsides to help their customers. It is not the law that needs changing here. If Snoddy wants to help on issues like this he would be far better off in getting rid of this jobs for life practice in the public sector and fire lazy, rude and incompentent public servants.

Ben Gunn, that’s a pretty all-encompassing, misinformed, and downright silly generalisation of public servants, and is an insult to the public servants who do a sterling job on behalf of the State and its citizens every day. Care to back up your claims with some statistics?

Not to mention that we rarely hear directly about these cases it’s always 2nd or 3rd hand (in this case husband telling of a friend). Chinese whispers, stories get distorted as they’re retold, maybe the cheque wasn’t made out properly, maybe there is a process around lodging cheques that she should have followed, or maybe it happened exactly as reported, but making sweeping generalisations about the people who keep your country running isn’t helpful or fair.

Ruairi, (Sorry about the missing fada) Stats are pointless because they measure themselves. In all my years dealing with the public service I ave met with a total lack of commitment to serving the customer.

Have you ever sat in a waiting area at a council office, hospital (non emergency) taxation office, or any government department, and watched how the staff spend there time? No, just try it. You’ll be amazed at how you tax euros are spent.

The lack of interest starts with the incomprehensible telephone filtering systems, then the inclination to pass you on to “somebody who might help”, then the promise to call back but ever happens. The standard ” it will take 7 to 10 days” which usually means at least a month if you lucky.

There is, in my experience, one major exception, the Revenue Service, every thing on the button, sorted immediately and in the post now…….wonder why?

I’d agree but have we not had 2 amnesties for those who under declared tax? There was no goal time for those people……..

There has been gaol time for tax dodgers, the garlic man for instance.

“If you knowingly and willingly defraud the state then it is gaol time my friend”.

You should do that comedy line at a FF ard fheis. You’ll raise the roof with laughter.

As Kerry says amnesties are not new and they certainly were for a lot more people and a hell of a lot more money than this.

Kilmainham Gaol? Or Newgate Gaol? Surely a trip to Tyburn Tree in the back of a cart is more appropriate for these brigands?

The problem with that of course is that it costs more than a weeks dole to put a fraudster away for one night! 6 months in prison is the same as paying dole for 3-4 years!
People are desperate when they see the dog eat dog country we live in today and so they will do whatever it takes to pay the bills. Of course lets be honest here we all have a family member or a cousin or a friend who is doing a few nixers on the side and whole it is dead wrong and not to be condoned who among us would report them? Not me . A better solution would be to get something back by having them do community service or whatever but locking people up is both counter productive and bloody expensive ! I pay tax and I don’t want my tax dollars wasted on this.