€14.5m in fraudulent claims uncovered in welfare review

A REVIEW of welfare payments in Cork, Kerry and Limerick by the Department of Social Protection uncovered €14.5 million in fraudulent claims last year, according to new figures.

The savings were recouped by the department’s southern division through 29,642 individual reviews in 2009.

The majority of the reviews, 23,626, related to jobseekers allowance/benefit claims. Almost 3,000 others referred to the One Parent Family payment and almost 900 were in relation to illness benefit claims.