Secretary to go before committee

The secretary of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Eddie McCumiskey, is expected to be available to appear before the Dail…

The secretary of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Eddie McCumiskey, is expected to be available to appear before the Dail's Public Accounts, Committee despite the fact that he is due to retire tomorrow.

Government and Opposition TDs united earlier this week at a sitting of the committee in, calling on the secretary to give his views on the widespread fraud discovered in the social welfare system.

The Department has consistently argued that fraud was miniscule and information to this effect has been given to the committee in the past.

In the light of the abuses highlighted in the survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office, TDs want the Department secretary to face questions on how the system failed to detect the fraud.