SPECIAL questionnaires are being issued to every person on the Live Register to validate addresses, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr Dc Rossa, has announced.
Some 20,000 questionnaires have already been circulated. The forms will also underline the conditions for receipt of unemployment payments.
The questionnaire is one of a series of measures being taken by the Minister as part of the continuing drive to control abuse and improve the incentives for unemployed people to take up work.
An extra 2,000 places are being created on the Back to Work Allowance Scheme. This will bring the total number of available places to 17,000. Under the scheme, unemployed people retain social welfare payments for a three-year period on a reducing scale.
A new and more detailed claim form for unemployment payments is being introduced and a consultancy study is being prepared on a more effective system of managing the flow of people on and off the Live Register
Mr De Rossa said a comprehensive publicity campaign, planned for late October/early November, will have a dual purpose: to warn against fraud and to outline the circumstances where it is legitimate to take up work while continuing to receive social welfare payments.
An extra 87 staff are being redeployed to control fraud and abuse, bringing the total number involved to 657.
The Fianna Fail social welfare spokesman, Mr Joe Walsh, said the increase in staff was insufficient. "Now that the Minister has finally woken up to the fact that he has presided over such a large- scale level of fraud directly within the competence of his own department, an additional 87 staff is totally inadequate," he said.
"What is required is a total rooting-out of fraudulent claims so that taxpayers on the one hand, and deserving claimants on the other, can have confidence in the Minister's ability to supervise an annual budget in excess of £4 billion," Mr Walsh added.
A new Live Register Management Unit has been set up within the Department and local control teams have been established in 56 outlying offices.
Mr De Rossa said the most recent Live Register figures, showing a significant decrease in the numbers "signing-on", were encouraging. "However, we intend that this trend will continue," he said.
"As a government we recognise our responsibility to bring about a fair and integrated system of taxation and social supports..."