Probe urged into leak of benefit details

A FIANNA FÁIL senator has urged the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate how private details of a family in receipt of social welfare benefits were leaked to a fellow senator.

Senator Byrne raised the issue in the Seanad after newspaper reports outlining the full details of payments allocated to one particular family, along with personal details about members of that family.

On Tuesday, Labour Senator Jimmy Harte called for a cap on social welfare of €50,000 after it emerged that a couple in Dublin with four children was claiming over €90,000 a year.