107. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Social Protection the process used by his Department to identify and investigate suspected social welfare fraud; the number of cases of social welfare fraud detected and confirmed in each of the past three years; the value of any overpayments identified and recovered during that period; the measures currently in place to prevent fraud and abuse of the social welfare system; any additional measures being considered to strengthen fraud detection and compliance activities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66706/26]

My Department continues to work in an ever-changing environment and is constantly required to meet new challenges and update its processes to remain alert and to respond to new and emerging forms of fraud and non-compliance.

The Department’s Compliance and Anti-fraud Strategy comprises four pillars: “Prevent”, “Deter”, “Detect” and “Account”, which are leveraged to ensure that suspected fraud and non-compliance in our welfare system is kept to a minimum.

The Department is committed to ensuring that only those people who are eligible, receive welfare and other payments.  Achieving this requires that robust safeguards are in place that secure payment systems, detect possible fraud and error, and prevent possible fraudulent claiming.

All applicants must provide proof of their identity when making a claim.  The applicants must verify their identity through the SAFE registration process.  The SAFE registration process establishes and fully authenticates a person’s identity and allows them to access a range of services from my Department and other public services in an easy and safe manner.

A range of verification processes are employed to validate and verify the information provided by an applicant when making a claim.  In addition, claims in payment are also subject to review. My Department continues to improve its data matching capabilities with external bodies and agencies to identify inconsistencies in information provided to the Department by persons making or re-establishing an entitlement.  Information is only exchanged in line with the appropriate legislative provisions.

The Department's data analytics team continue the risk assessment of individual records to increase the detection rate of non-compliant claims.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) is staffed by experienced, trained and dedicated teams of investigating officers, including officers seconded from An Garda Síochána.  SIU officers have wide-ranging powers of investigation and continue to work in collaboration with other public bodies and law enforcement agencies in Ireland, Northern Ireland and overseas.

Staff are provided with on-going training, mentoring and quality assurance checks are undertaken to ensure any administrative errors are kept to a minimum.  Ongoing IT system enhancements further reduce the scope for error.

Overpayments identified are pursued for recovery including through deductions from schemes in payment, direct debits or through attachments of earnings.

Where fraudulent claiming is identified, those cases are proactively pursued to ensure recovery of  any associated overpayments, with the most serious cases brought to the attention of the Courts.

The table below sets out the number of overpayments raised, the associated value of those cases and the recoveries, where an element of fraudulent activity was suspected from 2023 to 2025.  Figures for 2026 are not available.  These cases arise where a deciding officer is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence that a person deliberately provided false or misleading information or wilfully concealed relevant information in relation to their entitlement.  The Deputy will appreciate that there is a high evidential standard to be met in such cases.

* Recoveries may include overpayments raised in previous years, repaid in the current year.

I hope this provides clarity for the Deputy about the range and strength of control measures in place in my Department.