A crackdown on cross-Border welfare fraud saved the taxpayer more than €300,000 in its first six months, Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said today.
Fraud staff from a range of Government agencies staged checkpoints along the Border questioning more than 900 people since March.
Ms Hanafin said the high-profile presence was helping stamp out "scammers" crossing the Border for benefits in the South.
“We intend to continue these operations working closely with our colleagues in the Garda Síochana and Revenue Commissioners in the fight to counter fraud and abuse of our systems,” she said.
The Government announced the crackdown last March saying it wanted to stop the welfare system being abused and taxpayers getting ripped off.
A single person from Northern Ireland can receive around €150 more a week in jobless benefits in the Republic.
Some 32 checkpoints were set up by the gardaí in Border counties to stop people slipping in from Northern Ireland to claim jobless benefits.
Staff from the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners also took part in the operation.
Checkpoints were timed to coincide with signing-on days at dole offices, while officers were also targeting people dodging vehicle registration tax and other road traffic offences.
Several vehicles were seized in the operation in counties Louth, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.
Ms Hanafin said the social welfare offices had recorded a drop in the number of people trying to claim with previous addresses in the north and warned further checkpoints would be held.
Live Register figures for dole offices in border areas such as Ballybofey in Co Donegal showed an 85 per cent annual increase last month while Castleblayney, Co Monaghan registered a 75 per cent rise.
In January the same spots recorded a 123 per cent and 90 per cent rise respectively.
“We cannot and will not allow our system to be seen as a soft target for abuse.”
Increases were recorded between January and July in certain Border areas but the Department of Social and Family Affairs blamed them on rising unemployment in the regions.
Anti-fraud staff are to step-up their focus on residency tests for existing jobless benefit applicants with former Northern Ireland addresses. Inspectors will visit such claimants to ensure they are bona-fide.