THE Government is hopeful that its crackdown on social welfare fraud will lead to an immediate exodus of thousands of fraudulent claimants from the dole queue.
However, the Progressive Democrats dismissed the measures agreed earlier by Cabinet as "elementary checks which should have been in place all along", adding that the Government's announcement was a "shocking indictment of the lax approach which has been taken to date
According to Mr Jim Mitchell, the Fine Gael chairman of the Dail Select Committee on Finance and General Affairs, the abuses revealed in the Central Statistics Office report amounted to a greater scandal than that investigated by the Beef Tribunal.
Following yesterday's Cabinet meeting, a Government statement said it viewed evidence of "substantial irregularities in the unemployment support system" with great concern but it emphasised that most unemployed payment recipients were properly entitled to their allowances.
It pledged full support to the
Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, in targeting areas of abuse highlighted in the survey. The Minister is to report monthly to Government on the implementation of the measures decided yesterday.
Mr De Rossa is introducing "an enhanced programme of systematic controls" to ensure only the genuinely eligible receive unemployment payments. A programme of six-monthly interviews will be put in place to review people's continued eligibility. Those considered to be particularly likely to make fraudulent claims will be subjected to "special review and, where appropriate, more rigorous signing arrangements".
Claimants will be expected to register with FAS and those who fail to do so or refuse training opportunities will have their entitlements re-examined.
The transfer of data between the Department and FAS is to be put in place immediately and the Minister is "developing proposals" to make social services cards more effective by including photographs. One million such cards are in use.
The prosecution of fraud is to be stepped up, with provisions for fines of up to £10,000 and/or three years imprisonment.
Since the CSO survey revealed that 28 per cent of the sample questioned were not living at the addresses given, a major campaign" to verify the recorded homes of claimants is to be launched. This will involve a programme of home visits and other spot checks and new claimants will be required to verify their stated addresses.
The fact that 11 per cent of those surveyed claimed to be working full time was "a matter of great concern", according to the Government. As a result, the Department is to intensify its inspection of employers' records to identify those who are colluding with workers to defraud the system and 9,000 employers are to be visited by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Mr Mitchell said that while he chaired the Dail Committee on Public Accounts, the then governor of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice Doyle, had made a much publicised speech claiming there was massive social welfare fraud. Almost all committee members agreed with him privately.
Later, the secretary of the Department of Social Welfare rejected Mr Doyle's statement and "sought to minimise the accounts of widespread fraud" in the system, he said.
The secretary should be called to account for his stewardship to an appropriate Oireachtas forum. He should appear before the committee "and be asked to reconsider his publicly stated position on the extent and control of social welfare fraud".
Criticising the Government's proposals, the PD spokesman on finance, Mr Michael McDowell, said they contained no targets and no timetables for eliminating 100,000 frauds.