Central debt agency may net €200m for State

The Government is considering setting up a central collection agency that could recoup over €200m owed across several public sectors using radical new penalties to force debtors to pay up.

Hospital bills, fines for offenders, excessive farming payments, rates from businesses and overpaid welfare payments could all be recovered at much higher levels, the report found.

The detailed report for Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin set out how the money could be recovered from hospital patients, offenders before the courts, overpaid farmers and welfare claimants among others.