600 people face social welfare fraud charges
It comes after a 73-year-old pensioner was last month found guilty of fraudulently collecting his brother’s State pension for seven years.
Joan Burton’s Department of Social protection carries out tens of thousands of audits on those receiving benefits every year with the most serious cases of fraud pursued through the courts.
Up to the end of September, a total of 158 cases were finalised in court. Of these, two have received prison sentences and a further 12 received suspended sentences. During the same time there were 588 cases at various stages of the prosecution process.
These figures do not include cases of welfare fraud that have been brought by Gardaí under the Criminal Justice and Theft Acts.
A successful outcome has been achieved in 143 cases and the majority of these people received fines. Since December of last year the Department’s Special Investigation Unit has also been using the help of the gardaí to track down serious incidents of fraud with 20 gardaí seconded to work on this.
On October 29, Albert Monahan pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to four sample counts of theft after claiming €77,964 in payments while assuming the identity of his brother Peter Monahan, who lives in England. He fraudulently claimed the 356 weekly payments of €219 between November 2007 and October 2014, He also pleaded guilty of one count of producing a false instrument and claimed he used the money to buy windows, floors and food. Judge Melanie Greally suspended a four-year sentence in full, and told Monahan she would have imprisoned him were it not for his poor health.
A department spokeswoman said: “It is the department’s policy to consider for prosecution cases of fraud against the social welfare system.
“The department ensures that all cases that merit prosecution are forwarded for consideration of legal proceedings. In considering, or when referring, cases of social welfare fraud for legal proceedings the department applies defined and recognised best practice standards. This includes the duration of the fraud, amount overpaid, previous incidences of social welfare fraud etc.
“The courts are totally independent and Judges have the discretion to decide on the appropriate penalty to be applied in any case having regard to the evidence presented to them in relation to the case and the relevant maximum penalties.”
Already this year the Department of Social protection has received more than 11,000 welfare fraud tip offs from the public.
Members of the public can alert the department to fraudulent claims by post, online or on a phone line.
A department spokesman said: “All anonymous or confidential reports are examined and where relevant, are referred for follow-up action. A payment is not suspended or stopped solely on the basis of an anonymous report. The anonymous report, however, may be a ‘trigger’ for the instigation of a review.”
A total of 11,240 reports were dealt with by the department’s control division between January and September this year.
