Welfare workers in €1.3m fraud probe

A social welfare worker is being investigated by gardaí after allegedly misappropriating €1m by way of payments to people who may not even exist.

The individual involved worked in the Department of Social Protection’s community welfare division and is suspended with pay while the investigation continues. The money was paid out over six years.

The case is one of three involving staff where €1.3m was allegedly illegally taken from public welfare funds over the past decade.

Speaking at the latest meeting of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee, officials at the Department of Social Protection said the issues were uncovered after they took over responsibility for social welfare payments from the HSE in 2012.

After a standard examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General when the changeover occurred, three cases of allegedly fraudulent activity by welfare staff were identified.

Department of Social Protection secretary general Niamh O’Donoghue said the largest sum involves over €1m in allegedly fraudulent payouts between 2006 and 2012.

While stressing the issue is under Garda investigation and as such the person cannot be identified, she said there may be a “suggestion of collusion” with outside, third parties in the case.

When asked by Fine Gael TD and PAC member John Deasy if a large number of people were receiving the allegedly illegal sums, Ms O’Donoghue said: “That is based on the assumption they are real people and real businesses. That is part of the investigation.”

Although Department of Social Protection officials who attended the meeting stressed the incidents are extremely rare, they said two other incidents have also been uncovered.

In one case, an individual who has since been “dismissed” wrongly received just over €100,000 in fraudulent welfare payments between 2002 and 2012.

The department is attempting to “retrieve” the money, but it has not yet been fully paid back.

A third individual, who was also working in social welfare, is under Garda investigation for their alleged role in over €100,000 illegal payouts to third parties in recent years. This individual is suspended with pay, with officers examining whether there was outside “collusion” in the affair.

Ms O’Donoghue said anti-fraud controls are now in place to tackle internal misappropriation.

However, Fine Gael TD Kieran O Donnell said it is clear that previous anti-fraud measures have “failed”.

“Over €1m over a six-year period, €170,000 a year, or €3,000-€4,000 a week. It went on for six years,” he said, adding the issue is “truly shocking”.

A St Vincent de Paul spokesperson said people dependent on welfare payments will find the news “extremely disappointing”, as they are finding it “increasingly harder to make the payments stretch” to cover their costs.

During the same PAC meeting, it also emerged that Ireland’s welfare system had €375m in “overpayment debt” at the end of 2012, of which €97m related to that year.

Of this figure, €54m was recovered at the end of that year, the latest period available, representing just 13% of the total sum involved.