During the past 2 years, 878 asylum seekers in Ireland were found guilty of welfare fraud. The Justice Department informed the Public Accounts Committee that benefits worth more than 6 million euros were recovered within that period. Sean Aylward, the secretary general of the department, reported that 6.1 million euros was recouped between August 2004 and May 2005. During that period, a total of
878 illegal immigrants were found guilty of welfare fraud. During the operations, the Justice Department was supported by officials from Social & Family Affairs. According to Mr. Aylward, these asylum seekers frauded documents in order to avail of the social benefits provided by the government.
The
welfare fraud covered benefits such as disability, child benefit, single-parent allowance, unemployment benefit, and rental allowance. Mr. Aylward said that the criminals used multiple identities, passports, and various forms of ID in order to milk cash out of the welfare programs. The secretary general added that the Irish immigration officials along with the Garda national Immigration Bureau (GNIB) continued to detect and track illegal immigrants to illegally claim social benefits. Mr. Aylward said that these people penetrate Ireland in order to get the benefits and then move to another location when they are close to being deported.
