It was discovered that over €115 million in social assistance benefits were improperly given to residents last year, with six individuals receiving benefit payments totalling more than €200,000 that they were not entitled to, reports RTE.
According to the Department of Social Protection, 78,714 individual customers were left with a refund bill after they recovered €87.3 million worth of overpayments last year.
According to the department, overpayments can be attributed to a number of factors, such as purposeful false claims and honest mistakes made by welfare workers or applicants.
In one instance, an individual receiving a non-contributory state pension was paid a staggering €271,046 that they were not entitled to, reports RTE.
Repayment of €265,484 was given to another individual after claims under the same state pension plan.
An additional €236,934 was overpaid to a person via the non-contributory state pension, which is distributed based on age and pays between €266 and €276 per week.
An person who falsely claimed €227,904 in jobseekers’ allowance—a payout typically worth €232 per week—received the fourth-highest overpayment.
A individual received about €222,000 in compensation that they were not eligible for under the disability allowance system, reports RTE.
Five more overpayments of between €189,245 and €215,309 were made; they were all associated with the state pension that is not subject to contributions.
It is believed that at least some of these overclaims had something to do with pension payments made after the death of the individual who was genuinely eligible for assistance.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Protection said: “Overpayments of social welfare entitlements can occur for a number of reasons, including through error on the part of either the applicant or the Department or where a person has provided false or misleading information.”Those who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment in full as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled,” reports RTE.
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