Controls to prevent social welfare fraud saved the State more than £157 million in the first nine months of the year. Most of the savings by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs were made on unemployment fraud which realised savings of £73.358 million.
The detection of erroneous claims for the one-parent family allowance and illness benefits saved the Department £30.287 million and £28.727 million respectively.
Savings in PAYE/PRSI and old-age non-contributory pensions each netted more than £7 million. Further savings were made on child benefit (£2.6 million) and old-age contributory/retirement pensions (£1.6 million), bringing total savings to £157.85 million.
The savings resulted from normal reviews carried out by the Department as well as the work of its investigative staff.
Following their investigations, 115 cases were sent to the Chief State Solicitor's office for the initiation of prosecutions up to the end of September.
A further 459 cases await finalisation in the courts.
The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, attributed the savings to detection of fraud, abuse and error by certain individuals.
"Some of these I believe had been inadvertently claiming social welfare payments. Some did not disclose relevant information when applying for a payment. Others, however, set out to claim social welfare fully aware that they were abusing the system," the Minister said.
"It is time they realised that it's not just the system they are abusing. They are depriving the people who are genuinely down in their luck and who are dependent on the money they get each week from my department."
He said almost 7,000 employer inspections were carried out during the nine-month period and the vast majority - 92 per cent of employers - were found to be compliant.
Social welfare fraud detection saved the State a further £192 million in 1999 and £214 million in 2000.