Pensions and fraud

Sir, – The man who fraudulently claimed the pensions of his dead parents for 33 years, instead of being sentenced for his fraud, should be commended for exposing the inability, waste and the lack of fraud detection in the control of public expenditure by our governments and public servants ("Man jailed for claiming dead parents' pensions for 33 years", News, February 16th).

The waste and lack of control of exchequer funds indicate a reckless attitude. – Yours, etc,

HUGH McDERMOTT,

Dromahair,

READ MORE

Co Leitrim.

Sir, – Some years ago a man on my medical card list died. Less than 24 hours later, I received official notification that his card had been cancelled, thereby preventing me (quite rightly) claiming income from the dead.

Had this eagle-eyed functionary been transferred to the Department of Social Protection they could have saved the State a lot of money. – Yours, etc,

Dr CHARLES

DALY,

Abbeyside,

Dungarvan,

Co Waterford.