February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
As the crackdown on welfare fraud in Ireland continues, it has emerged that one in seven dole claimants investigated by the department of Social Welfare last year were forced to sign off, saving taxpayers almost _31 million.
Social welfare investigators interviewed a quarter of all dole recipients in 1997, resulting in more than 10,000 people signing off the live register, figures obtained by the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune newspaper revealed.
Meanwhile, 20,786 tax audits by the Irish authorities last year on the self-employed and on companies resulted in additional tax payments of _149 million.
Three hundred and fifty-six vehicles were seized during the year for breach of registration tax regulations.
There was also an increase in convictions for cigarette smuggling and illegal selling of cigarettes.
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