Welfare wrongly paid out €62.5m

THE Department of Social Protection admitted €62.5 million was wrongly paid out in benefits last year while just €33m in overpayments were recovered.

The admission came after the Minister for Social Protection, Eamon Ó Cuív, had admitted to the overpayments while outlining the €3bn in social welfare cuts to be achieved in the Government’s four-year National Recovery Plan.

Of the overpayments made, €20m was as a result of fraud arising out of false declarations, while €31m was due to customer or third-party error.