AN INVESTIGATION into fraudulent welfare claims led to the arrest of five people in north and west Dublin yesterday.
Three men and two women were arrested after detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and inspectors from the Department of Social Protection searched houses yesterday morning. A large number of documents were seized.
A man in his 30s and a woman in her 40s who appeared in court charged in relation to fraudulent welfare claims were released on bail to reappear before Dublin District Court next week.
A third person, a 19-year-old man, is due to appear at Blanchardstown District Court this morning.
A man in his 20s and a woman in her 20s have been released without charge. A file will be prepared for the DPP.
Clamping down on social welfare fraud has been targeted by successive governments in recent years. Figures for 2009, the latest available, show the main cause of suspected fraud overpayment was “concurrent working and claiming”, amounting to more than 8,000 cases with a value of €7.3 million.
While figures for last year are still being collated, a spokeswoman for the department yesterday said it appeared as if a similar level of overpayment was made in 2010. It was estimated that last year control activities such as the work of investigators saved the State €483 million