Welfare crackdown saves €238m

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.

Department inspectors conducted more than 200,000 reviews of welfare payments in the first six months of the year in a bid to eliminate bogus claims.

The reviews resulted in almost €81m of one-parent family payments being stopped, €54m in unemployment benefits being stopped, and €37m in illness payments being stopped.