Refreshing to hear of welfare savings

With people being clobbered by draconian cutbacks and facing a raft of new taxes, it is heartening to hear the success of a Government campaign against social welfare fraud, effectively saving €669m last year and aiming at savings of €710m this year.

What is especially reassuring about this welcome announcement by Minister Joan Burton is that public attitudes towards social welfare fraud have undergone a sea change. Gone are the days when this crime –— and that’s the correct term — was greeted with knowing nods, winks, and grudging admiration for certain people who knew the system inside out and could “get away with it”.

Not any more. The Department of Social Welfare received an unprecedented flood of tip-offs about suspected fraud as reports poured in from 28,000 people up and down the country. By alerting official investigators to what was going on in a neighbourhood they proved the importance of local knowledge by, for instance, focusing attention on a family engaged in welfare fraud if an expensive car was parked outside the door.