The National Consumer Agency (NCA) today said customers of Home Payments Ltd. should immediately contact their bank to cancel any direct debits to this company.

A Kildare civil servant who fraudulently obtained €147,000 from the Department of Social and Family Affairs by claiming overtime he was not entitled to has been given a three-year suspended sentence.

A senior civil servant who defrauded €147,000 from the Department of Social and Family Affairs by claiming overtime he was not entitled to, has been remanded on bail, pending sentencing.

MORE than 8,230 people are on a waiting list for local authority housing in Cork city, new figures have revealed.

CONTROVERSIAL property tycoons, Liam Carroll and Bernard McNamara are pocketing millions for property they rent to the state — almost €117 million each year.

THE GROUP campaigning for justice for women housed in Magdalene Laundries has been told the state accepts abuse took place in these facilities, but it won’t admit any liability that could make it duty bound to pay compensation.

THE National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS) has launched an investigation into why more than 40,000 letters to women entitled to a free smear test were returned unopened.

TEN weeks will fly by in more or less the blink of an eye if you’re having a good time, but if you are one of the 6,000 families who have applied for the Family Income Supplement (FIS) for the first time you will have come to understand how long 10 weeks can be.

EIGHT out of 10 landlords of private rented property are refusing to pass on details of their PPS (Personal Public Service) number to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

A TOTAL of 910 farming families have been awarded a payment under the Farm Assist scheme since the start of the year.

AROUND €15,000 will be spent changing name plaques from Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism to Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport outside its offices in Killarney and Dublin.

THERE is no diminution of commitment to rural communities by the Government – despite the term “rural” being dropped from the title of his Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, according to Minister Pat Carey.

The Irish Farmers Association has welcomed the decision to reinstate the state contributory pension for elderly farm women.

THEY have tried seeing the funny side but, no matter which way you look at it, being told to repay almost €87,000 to the state is no laughing matter.

“MY mother often says to me would you not be better off putting me into a home, I’m too much of a burden on you. We don’t want to do that because that is the end of the road.”

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) has experienced a surge in the number of people seeking assistance. Inquiries have increased by two-thirds in just two years.

THE Irish Farmers’ Association is to seek an early meeting with the new Social Protection Minister, Éamon O Cuív, in a bid to resolve a vexed pension issue for farm women.

OUT with the old and in with the, er, old.

Former Social Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin insisted tonight that she was genuinely delighted with her shift to a rebranded Tourism, Culture and Sport portfolio as part of the Cabinet rejig.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has today moved from Enterprise, Trade and Employment to the Department of Education, pending the expected Dáil approval.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is set to announce his reshuffled Cabinet this afternoon, along with a reworking of some government departments.

SHUTTING down the Combat Poverty Agency (CPA) did not lead to any significant cost savings, the opposition claimed last night after it emerged the Government is still paying €400,000 in rent for empty offices after the agency moved out.

A GOVERNMENT department focusing on job creation will aim to reduce the number of people claiming the dole by putting them on back to work schemes.

Around 20,000 benefits cheques will be delayed next week as a result of industrial action, welfare chiefs warned today.

There are further hints that changes in the structure of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment will feature in next week's Cabinet reshuffle.

Union chiefs meet today to look at escalating their campaign of industrial action against pay cuts in the public sector.

EMERGENCY service workers will support an escalation of industrial action in the public sector in opposition to wage and service cutbacks.

The public services committee of the ICTU is to meet tomorrow as unions move to escalate their campaign of industrial action against government cuts.

An escalation of industrial action affecting Government services is expected in the coming weeks.

STRUGGLING homeowners facing huge debt are being refused mortgage interest aid at a rate of 1,000 a month, according to the country’s leading housing agency.

FEARS people nearing retirement age will be forced to work longer before claiming their pensions have been eased by Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

ANGRY women from all over the country protested at the Department of Social and Family Affairs in Dublin yesterday over the axing of their contributory state pension.

Up to 400 people from farming families have gathered outside the Department of Social and Family Affairs in Dublin, to protest at the removal of pensions from wives of farmers.

ALMOST 80,000 people are claiming an illness benefit while out of work due to back and neck pain, depression and stress.

FARMERS’ wives shocked by a decision by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to take back their pensions have appealed the move to the Pensions Ombudsman.

THE announcement that 13,300 people joined the dole queues last month is sobering. This brought the overall figure to 436,900. Even more worrying is the proportion of young men – one-in-three of those between 20 and 25 – who are unable to find work.

AN INITIATIVE to speed up welfare claims by allowing newly unemployed people certify their own means is being examined.

YOU correctly identified that difficulties exist for individuals legitimately seeking access to social welfare due to the operation of the habitual residency condition (January 25).

THE number of people ringing the Money and Budgeting Service (MABS) for help with debt and mortgage repayments more than doubled last year, latest figures show.

GREEN shoots? I have them.

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern is moving to close a legal loophole which has made it impossible to serve enforcement orders on errant fathers who have failed to pay child maintenance.

THOUSANDS of Irish citizens forced to emigrate to find work will be barred from receiving any social welfare payments for two years, if they return to this country.

THERE has been a massive surge in the number of people on social welfare accessing a special payment to go back to education.

MAJOR distress has been caused among some farm spouses who have been informed by the Department of Social and Family Affairs that their contributory state pension is being withdrawn and refunds of payments sought.