TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is set to overhaul several Government departments and grant the Green Party a second junior minister as part of today’s Cabinet reshuffle aimed at restoring the coalition’s sagging fortunes.

ON average a criminal prosecution a day has taken place in the courts this year for social welfare fraud.

THE state is losing hundreds of millions of euro each year through social welfare fraud, taxes written off and hospitals failing to recoup costs from private patients.

THE Government is to assign an additional 115 staff to social welfare offices across the country to deal with the growing backlog in unemployment claims.

More than 380 submissions have been received by the Department of Social Affairs as part of the consultation process for the Green Paper on Pensions.

STAFF in social welfare offices are struggling to cope with the increased rate of unemployment, leaving dole claimants waiting 12 weeks to have their claims processed.

TWENTY-SEVEN voluntary and community groups have rallied to the defence of the Combat Poverty Agency which is waiting to hear its fate after a ministerial review recommended it be scrapped as a cost-cutting measure.

THE Government is using the economic crisis to “settle scores” by looking to shut down State agencies that have criticised it in the past, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has claimed.

A CRACKDOWN on social welfare fraud saved the Government €238m since the start of the year, according to figures released by the Department of Social Affairs yesterday.

I WAS surprised to read your headline ‘Crackdown denied as lone parent payments cut’ (April 14).

Pig processing at Glanbia meat factory which was severely damaged by a weekend blaze will be transferred to a different factory, it emerged today.

Fine Gael is calling on the Department of Social Affairs to set up temporary offices in Edenderry to help staff affected by the huge fire at the Glanbia factory over the weekend.

ONE wonders at the necessity of conducting a census, especially as it appears there were only 63,090 Polish nationals in the country on ‘census night’.

LABOUR has promised to abolish the means test for carers if returned to power in the summer general election.

CARERS looking after relatives in their own homes are set to get a €50 million Budget boost later this year.

UP to 50,000 “hardcore unemployed” people will be regularly quizzed about their efforts to find work under a major transformation of the State’s unemployment payments.

RECORD spending by the Department of Social Affairs next year is expected to be boosted by around €1 billion in the December Budget.

IRELAND has been given “plenty of warnings” from countries like France as to what will happen if migrant workers are not integrated into society, an international expert said yesterday.

Minister for Social Affairs Seamus Brennan today pledged to implement a plain English policy in his department.

It is unacceptable that the ESB, a semi-State body, should be responsible for financial hardship inflicted on people who, through circumstances, are forced to get basic household equipment on the company’s expensive credit scheme.

EVERY week 30 people visit an office in Finglas village seeking expert help.

One and a half million people are set to benefit from social welfare increases due to come into force next week, according to Social and Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan.

The Department of Social Affairs has said that more than 14,500 families, including over 30,000 children, will directly benefit from the new Family Income Supplements that take effect next month.

Far more work must be done to wipe poverty and social exclusion from Irish society, a senior minister said today.

VULNERABLE fathers in Ireland are distrusted, misjudged and excluded from a full parenting role.