10% of parents owing maintenance are untraceable
In cases where parents have been tracked down and forced to pay maintenance they have saved the State more than €3m.
Figures provided by the Department of Social Protection on the work of their specialised Maintenance Recovery Unit (MRU) last year revealed that 10,709 cases were reviewed and 1,098 liable relatives were either living overseas or could not be traced. In another 539 cases the liable relative could not be identified.