The Government is being accused of “incinerating” taxpayers’ money, after new figures from the Department of Social Protection show that €1.22 billion worth of social welfare overpayments were made between 2016 and 2025.
Of that figure, €345 million has yet to be recovered, bringing the total outstanding debt to almost €1 billion.
The figures cover a range of different social welfare schemes, with the Department seeking to recover money where payments were made in error or where people were not entitled to the full amount they received.
Questions are also being raised over how much of that money was paid out as a result of fraudulent claims, with Aontú leader Deputy Peadar Tóibín saying it’s unclear how much of the overpayments can be attributed to fraud.
Deputy Toibin joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.
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