Social welfare recipients overpaid by €67m

OVER €67 million has been overpaid to welfare recipients over the last two years by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, latest figures reveal.

Documents released to the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act also show that almost €17m of these overpayments could not be traced and had to be written off as irretrievable.

According to briefing material prepared for incoming Social and Family Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan, €28.7m was overpaid in 2002, while in 2003 the figure rose to €38.9m.