On a national basis, going into the broader field, apart from itinerants who may be involved in fradulent social welfare claims, have the Minister's Department, in view of the obvious huge extent of fraudulent claims on a national basis, particularly in Border areas, any plans to implement the recommendation that any applicant for a social welfare payment should have appended to their application form a passport photograph?

That is another suggestion on which I will seek the view of my Department. In answer to some of the other points the Deputy has made and his constant use of the word "conceded" in regard to things I am supposed to have said — I want to make it quite clear that I thought I had answered very fully in my original reply the whole question of the newspaper report. I want to make it quite clear what is the position regarding that report. There are, in fact, two newspaper reports. On Sunday, 16 February a reporter from RTE News requested a comment from the Government Information Services on the report referred to in the newspapers about the disclosure of cross-Border fraud regarding social welfare claims. On that Sunday morning a check was made quickly with my Department officials but not with me. I was in the Department only a couple of hours at that stage. RTE were informed that the £25 million dole fraud story was "wide speculation". In the time available the Department had been unable to trace a reference to the figure of £25 million being mentioned in any formal report. As I have said, the problem was that the style and presentation of the newspaper report led the reader to believe that we have at present an enormous cross-Border fiddle amounting to £25 million. It was pointed out to the RTE reporter that over two years ago an exercise on unsuspected abuses in the Dundalk area was carried out. It subsequently turned out that that is what the story was about.

In the days following the statement by the Government Information Services concerning the newspaper article several officers of the Department, whom it had not been possible to contact before the statement issued on Sunday, were contacted and a submission by one of the social welfare officers involved in the Dundalk exercise two years ago was traced. In the course of the submission to his supervisor the officer concerned speculated that, if certain results were projected across the whole Border and on a national basis, then a sum of £25 million could be involved. This figure was not endorsed by his supervisor in headquarters or by the Department, which regards it as highly speculative.