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McHugh slates "dole tourists"
response
20.02.09
FINE Gael spokesman on
North-South Cooperation Deputy Joe McHugh, has
expressed outrage that the State’s cross-border
social welfare fraud machinery is based on an
agreement signed with the British Government two
years before Ireland joined the Eurozone.
In response to a Dáil questioned tabled by Deputy
McHugh, social welfare Minister Mary Hanafin said
that cross-border social welfare fraud detection is
administered under the aegis of an October 2000 (MOU)
Memorandum of Understanding between the Irish and
British Governments. |
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“The revelation that
the administration of cross-border social welfare
fraud detection is based on framework document that
precedes the Republic’s entry into the Eurozone is
an outrage,” Deputy McHugh said. “The MOU document
was agreed by the two governments in 2000, and
Ireland joined the eurozone in January 2002.
“Cross-border social welfare fraud has been
completely transformed by Ireland’s entry into the
Eurozone. The sterling-euro differential has added a
totally new dimension to the problem. Dole tourism
is now both a more pertinent and a substantively
different issue in the |
Border region.”
“People who move from Northern Ireland to Ireland
may have an entitlement to a social welfare
payment,” Hanafin said. “However, if there is any
suspicion of a fraud being perpetrated, this is
investigated by local Social Welfare Inspectors.”
Minister Hanafin said the owing to operational
sensitivities her Department couldn’t release
information regarding the specifics of activities
that target cross-border fraud.
“Minister Hanafin’s failure to answer my question
about the numbers of dole tourists raises questions
about the extent of her knowledge about this
problem. Her answer does not indicate that she is
dealing with the issue,” McHugh said.
“It also suggests that her department’s mechanism
for dealing with this issue is completely outdated.
I await her answers to my supplementary questions
with great anxiety.”
As revealed in this newspaper before Christmas,
individuals from the North are making dole claims
through addresses of relatives resident in the
Republic. Furthermore, vacant holiday homes are
being used as addresses of convenience for young
unemployed persons from the North to make claims for
dole and rent allowance.
With the euro remaining strong against sterling,
dole payments in the Republic now top €204 per week
for a single person, as compared to €67.50 (£60.50)
in the North. (Inishowen Independent) |
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