€4m in welfare fraud detected

Specially trained gardaí using facial recognition software detected over €4m worth of social welfare fraud in the first half of this year — including a large number of identity theft cases.

Tánaiste Joan Burton confirmed the situation during a Dáil committee meeting in which she also said that the amount of money spent on the State supports is likely to drop by €70m next year due in part to falling unemployment numbers.

Speaking at the latest meeting of the education and social protection committee, the Labour leader and Social Protection Minister said that, between January and July, a special team of gardaí had been tasked with finding social welfare fraud.