A crackdown on fraudulent claims for unemployment benefit, illness payments and one-parent family benefit resulted in the State saving €375 million last year, according to Government officials.
The measures used by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to tackle fraud included reviews of claim applications, home visits, mail shots to selected claimants, and medical reviews.
A total of 364 individual cases were forwarded to the Chief State Solicitor's office for the initiation of legal proceedings. Of the 266 cases finalised in court, 105 people received fines, 52 received the Probation Act, 16 received suspended sentences, 10 were given community service and four were jailed.
Remaining penalties included cases where the individual was bound to the peace or where the case was adjourned with liberty to re-enter proceedings.
Most of the savings related to claims for unemployment benefit (€123 million), followed by one-parent family payments (€78 million) and illness payments (€63 million).
Also, more than 500 employers out of a total of 4,853 who were inspected were not meeting their obligation to pay their share of PRSI contributions for employees.
These inspections yielded savings of €8 million.
A spokesman for Minister for Social Affairs Séamus Brennan said the department's priority was to ensure those entitled to supports received them and to pursue those who knowingly abuse and de-fraud the system.
The savings of €375 million had been achieved by constant vigilance and by focusing on schemes with a high risk of fraud and abuse, he added.
Fraud against the social welfare system arises in a number of ways.
In some instances claimants make false declarations or conceal facts in order to obtain payment.
In other cases there is deliberate failure to notify the department of a change in circumstances or failure by an employer to comply with PRSI regulations.
These circumstances could include an undisclosed change in marital status, failure to disclose full means or increases in means, absenting themselves or their dependents from the State and failure to disclose the employment or residential status of their spouse, partner or dependents.
Controversially, claimants for the one-parent family payment are still being targeted if they have a partner living with them, despite promises by the Minister last year to reform the law in this area.
Legislation that would reform the welfare benefit system for lone parents, and axe the controversial co-habitation rule, is unlikely to be enacted before the general election.
The department is also using a number of new ways to target others who are not complying with welfare regulations.
For example, it is matching data from the Revenue on who has taken up employment against the unemployment and one-parent family payment schemes.
It is also matching department payments for one-parent families and widows'/widowers' claims with the marriage data from the General Register Office.
Similarly, information from the same source on deaths is helping officials track down claims where the department has not been notified of a death by the deceased person's next of kin.
Fraud savings 2006 scheme
Amount Saved
Unemployment€123 million
Illness€63 million
Old-Age Pensions€22 million
One-Parent Family Payment€78 million
Free Schemes€8 million
Child Benefit€18 million
Employer Inspections€8 million
Others€55 million
Total€375 million
Source:Department of Social and Family Affairs