by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
NORTHERN dole cheats are taking advantage of high
social welfare payments on this side of the Border
and are signing on here in substantial numbers
further adding to already burgeoning dole queues,
the Inishowen Independent can reveal. And the sharp
increase in the volume of new claimants over the
past 12 months in Buncrana and other Donegal social
welfare offices is presenting more opportunities for
fraudulent claims.
This newspaper has received several reports of
individuals from the North making claims through the
addresses of relatives resident in the Republic. It
is also understood that vacant homes in Inishowen
are being used as addresses of convenience by young
unemployed persons from the North from which to make
claims for dole and rent allowance.
Dole payments in the Republic are €197 per week for
a single person, as compared to €69.40 (£60.50) in
the North. A rental allowance of €90 will also be
paid in this State, if the applicant qualifies under
a means test.
Last week the Department of Social Welfare allocated
two additional staff to its Buncrana office to deal
with the backlog of claims which is running at up to
ten weeks, although no new claims investigators have
been appointed.
The rights to social welfare for so-called ‘frontier
workers’ are covered by EU Directives, and the body
established under the Good Friday Agreement to
provide advice to claimants on either side of the
border admits that the higher benefits in the
Republic “aggravate an already confusing situation”.
When one is made unemployed, one must make a social
welfare claim in the State in which one is normally
resident rather than the State in which one worked.
However, if a worker is intermittently unemployed
for short periods of time, they can claim
unemployment benefits in the State in which they
were last employed.
The Department says it is committed to ensuring that
social welfare payments are available to those who
are entitled to them, but also determined to ensure
that abuse of the system is prevented and is dealt
with effectively when detected.
“People who move from Northern Ireland to Ireland
may have an entitlement to a social welfare
payment,” the Department stated. “However, if there
is any suspicion of a fraud being perpetrated this
is investigated by local social welfare inspectors.”
In the ten months to the end of October, 48 cases
relating to social welfare fraud were submitted to
the courts in the Donegal-Sligo-Leitrim region, of
which 28 were finalised in the District Court; of
those finalised 21 received fines, four received the
Probation Act and three cases were struck out.
The maximum penalty for cases taken in the District
Court is a fine of up to €1,500, or up to six months
in prison.
The Department says it has carried out 19,000
reviews in Donegal-Sligo-Leitrim in the year to
October and savings of €16 million have been
achieved.
The Buncrana Social Welfare office has received a
“substantial increase” in reports from the public of
suspicious claims from non-residents, while the
Health Service Executive, whose Community Welfare
Officers pay rent allowance and interim dole
payments while social welfare claims are being
processed, said the upsurge in Northern applicants
is “posing problems numerical-wise”.
One Community Welfare Officer described his clinic
as “being like Shantallow”.
“Every case of suspected fraud reported by members
of the public is investigated by inspectors and all
such cases are treated in strictest confidence,” the
Department statement concluded.
The website
www.borderpeople.info contains information on
social welfare entitlements for citizens living on
either side of the Border. |
