Exactly Barry, if the likes of her department and the OPW were called to task there would be huge savings made without harming any one

In case you weren’t reading the piece, these are overpayments of which the Department are aware, and are chasing down.

Granted, that isn’t exactly clear from the headline.

The point is that we’re fooling ourselves if we think cuts are down to anything other than unsustainable bank debt. Everything else is deck chairs on the Titanic stuff.

Maybe if people stop claiming money to which they are not entitled, there would be money for gardai, carers, schools etc etc

Maybe if they start in the right place and cut politicians wages out Taoiseach earns more the Obama for goodness sake

Waffler . there friends send it over i know this for a fact . Seen it done only last week

That or finger prints to retrieve information at social welfare offices where you sign on and at the post offices. It would mean that people couldn’t go around to all the different dole offices collectin with fake passports etc (I’ve heard that’s the latest!) also they has started doing spot checks lately in random businesses to make sure that staff are not hiring someone for cash. I think that’s a brilliant idea!! And if caught they are not allowed claim off public funding again to include social welfare, disability benefit and a public pension. That would stop people abusing the system.

I was also overpaid, similar situation to you. My partner got a job I informed sw straight away. Two weeks later I was still receiving the same amount I money as before so I called in again was told they had no record of me declaring partners new job, even though he had signed off!! I took nearly 2 months for them to adjust my payment, I’m still paying back this extra money now!!!

Same thing happened to us. My husband was on short time for a few years but things improved thankfully and he went back on a full work week the middle of last year. Despite him signing off he still was receiving cheques. Every time we got one I would have to go into SW and try to give it back to them. They would never take them back, instead they told me they would take a small portion off any payments he may receive in the future. I still to this day can’t understand the logic behind it.

And how exactly are they collecting it?

Simple…. cheap flights collecting it every month or two.

During the ash cloud shut down of air space there were thousands of people who didn’t collect for quite some time. A large number of them were investigated and struck off.

That’s why we’re in this shit Shane cause there all naive idiots giving out bout dole nothing do with why this country is broke . They voted them in themselves

Because all we’re good for is the soft option. We are to SPINLESS to actually do anything other than Moan Moan Moan.

And that good sir, is the plain truth. Fair play.

well said.

You’re correct Thomas

Very true Thomas. Divide and conquer I have been saying it for ages, like the nudge scam on England, there using tactics to keep our attention off them and the useless job they are doing.

Hey Thomas,

Agree with you in principle but the reality is the middle classes/middle income earners are being crushed from both sides. Pay for the damned bank bailouts (And what process/procedures are being put in place to ensure the state claws back every cent of this for the future? None that we can see).

And pay for social welfare. Naturally social welfare is a vital safety net for families that have found themselves on hard times who have contributed to society but there are those who are milking it and those who are conning the system.

The sooner the better they lighten the load off the middle/coping class the better. Don’t care which side they start on….. largely irrelevant. Would prefer to see banks first but those conning the system should be named and shamed and every penny clawed back.

BTW – They’ll never actually release figures on how much fraud is actually there because it would create too much of a political sh1t storm for themselves to fix.

Middle Stephen lower paid are paying for them too me for example

Sorry meant ken I’m on a low wage I’m paying for greed too not just middle earners

Most sensible statement I’ve heard in ages ken.fair play to you.

Ken: in other EU countries there are many examples of SW benefits paid based on contribution scale and duration. Ireland is weird with that as its scammers paradise.

Shut up

stephen you troll. people on welfare isnt the countries problem. illegal bank debt, crooked politicians and gangster developers are. open your little closed mind and think for once.

How do you know its higher?what proof have you?

A figure of 92.35 million from a budget of 21 billion (if correct) is an error of o.4%. I find it hard to believe that when dealing with a budget that size that the error would be so small. Granted not all of that budget goes to welfare payments. It’d be interesting to calculate the over payment as a percentage of the actual welfare pay out. At 0.4% we’d probably have the most efficient social welfare system in Europe if not the world. And I doubt that very much.

Good point Ciaran. .4 % is very low. If we factor in fraud etc we are probably talking hundreds of millions. Lets be honest the system is abused alot.

To be fair if you corrected for fraud id say you could save a round billion if not 2-5 billion

Half it how there are no jobs

Well said David it’s the greedy pigs at the top are why we’re in the mess were in

Stephen how many billion wud he saved if wealthy were taxed right politicians wages were halved get rid of big fat pensions and fat bankers gangsters developers the list is endless open you’d eyes

Some seriously naive people here easier to blame people on the dole than the greedy pigs at the top no wonder country on its knees with that attitude