ESRI outlines to Oireachtas committee how an indexation could be implemented in Ireland

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said the move would create more businesses for branches, but would also help tackle social welfare fraud

Report into the pandemic unemployment payment found one-fifth of randomly chosen claims did not meet criteria for payment

With one in four children living in deprivation, we can do better

Long-term recipients of the PUP will also receive the bonus

Donal O’Callaghan has admitted to carrying out a €1 million social welfare scam over a period of 33 years

Judge Aylmer agreed to give her a year to pay the money back, because of what he said were "exceptional circumstances"

The accused man was claiming pensions for his mother and father when they were both dead

Will the new statutory sick pay scheme be in addition to, or part of, the existing company sick pay scheme?

Increased spending on health and welfare are among the measures set to be announced in today's budget.

The investigation arose from ongoing multi-agency cooperation between the departments which identified the suspected abuses

A number of checks were carried out in July 2020, March 2021 and July 2021, which resulted in tens of thousands of claims being stopped

New measures will see the Decisions Advisory Office monitor successfully appealed decisions and also arrange for periodic reviews.

The Tánaiste ruled out a signficant increase in employer PRSI, though

She was initially entitled to the carer’s allowance when she lived in Cork but continued claiming it after leaving for the UK while her son cared for his grandmother

Leo Varadkar acknowledged prices were rising and said there would be a welfare package to counteract the soaring cost of living

Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney and Paschal Donohoe also apologised this morning to Fine Gael members over the Zappone controversy

The inclusion of all mortgage payments in assessments for social welfare has made it harder for victims to stay living in the family home, writes Louise Bayliss

The woman, speaking anonymously, said the behaviour was intimidating and included requests for her children's baptismal certs and questions about old social media posts

As well as this, scam phone calls continue to be made claiming to be from an official of the department. 

State must look at base rate of social welfare and a raft of other changes to reduce consistent poverty to 2%, says minister

The Benefit Payment for 65-year-olds will be worth €203 a week, and is designed to help those who have to retire at 65, but can’t receive the state pension until they are 66

That includes some €20.3m in suspected cases of welfare fraud

I’m writing because I received a letter from the HSE on Saturday, December 19. It is a letter looking to review my medical card. I’m a lone parent of two children, a full-time carer to one of them who is home from school since early March last year.

 A man who fraudulently claimed over €65,000 in social welfare payments and was detected using facial-imaging technology has been given a three and half year suspended sentence.

Fear of retribution is contributing to a low number of complaints against social welfare inspectors, according to experts in the sector.

The system of social welfare inspection leaves mothers in receipt of single-parent payments vulnerable to abuse of power, with unannounced visits and searches of personal possessions, writes Political Correspondent Aoife Moore

Social welfare payments will be paid weekly once more from next month, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has said. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, weekly social welfare payments were changed to a fortnightly schedule from late March.

Implementation of a new illness benefit IT system is the reason for the big spike in overpayments

Postmasters are warning that coronavirus is continuing to have a very serious negative impact on transactions in post offices, and by extension cash spending in local economies.

Growing frustration among airline's ground staff and cabin crew over the handling of social welfare claim forms

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme is the successor to the temporary wage subsidy scheme

There were 650,000 recipients of the State pension in 2019, which totalled €8.2bn

Minimum social welfare rates should increase by €7 in Budget 2021, according to Social Justice Ireland. The organisation will propose the rise to the Social Protection Minister at a pre-Budget forum today.

Heather Humphreys may have done a U-turn on holiday entitlements for those receiving the pandemic unemployment payment, but this issue looks set to rumble on. Here, Neil Michael attempts to answer some of the pressing questions surrounding the PUP

Just under half of those who accessed the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) have now brought their claim to a close according to the Government, as it moved to dampen controversy over the benefit.

The Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said they have to protect taxpayers' money after changes were made to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).

Fianna Fáil and Green TDs are being urged to block or amend new government legislation that will force pandemic payment claimants to “genuinely” be seeking work.

According to figures published by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, over 19,000 have come off the Covid payment scheme in the last week, with a further 8,800 receiving their final payment tomorrow.

More than 100 people have had their social welfare payments cut for going on holidays during the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of people who receive disability allowance grew by nearly 6,000 last year. The Disability Federation of Ireland claims people who receive the payment are in poverty.

The outgoing Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty told the Dáil the idea that money would be taken back as had been suggested by some commentators last week was "shameful".

Some civil servants deciding on the merits of the Habitual Residence Condition feel there is too much discretion when deciding who qualifies, with a study finding an "over-analysis of cases" which can lead to backlogs.

In a country and a world convulsed by the coronavirus pandemic, it is easy for other less immediately pressing, but nonetheless significant, social issues to slip under the radar. We should not — and must not — let that happen.