THE Department of Social Welfare failed to tell the Ombudsman for more than a decade about a scheme which could have benefited hundreds of pensioners, it has emerged.
The Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, has expressed "disquiet" about the situation, which he believes led to contributory old age pensioners who were late in claiming their pensions being denied money they could otherwise have received.
The Department last night said it accepted Mr Murphy's criticisms that his office had been "kept in the dark" about the scheme, but said regulations to be published later this year would bring transparency and clarity to the situation.
In three test cases which Mr Murphy took up, arrears ranging from £1,230 to £33,000 have been paid by the Department. He has urged the pensioners concerned to seek a review of their cases by the Department. The number of pensioners involved runs into hundreds and may exceed 1,000.
Mr Murphy has 60 similar cases on hand. A Fianna Fail TD, Mr Micheal Martin, who took up the issue some years ago, says he alone has submitted 30 cases to the Ombudsman.
When pensioners make late claims for contributory pensions there is a time limit on the arrears they can receive. This limit was three months up to 1993, when it was increased to six months.
Pensioners and the Ombudsman were told by the Department that it could only pay what was permitted by the regulations.
However, when Mr Murphy started a formal investigation into the issue in 1995, he discovered that the Department has had the power, for 36 years, to pay full arrears of contributory pensions under various circumstances, including "where equity requires that they be paid".
"I found it somewhat disquieting to discover the existence of such an arrangement in this manner given that my office has been dealing with this kind of issue since at least 1985", he writes in his report of the investigation, published yesterday.
"It is probable that at least some of the `late claims' complaints dealt with over the intervening years might have benefited from this arrangement had this office been aware of its existence."
Mr Murphy has now urged people who have been denied arrears of contributory pensions to seek a review of their cases from the Department of Social Welfare. If they are turned down again they can complain to his office.
This year's Social Welfare Bill, allows arrears of up to 12 months to be paid for claims made after January 1st this year.
The Minister, Mr De Rossa, says that he will make regulations "for dealing with cases outside the statutory limits". These regulations will be published and late applicants will be told about them.