Claiming state pensions for his dead parents for 33 years!

Its not about one civil service department not talking to another civil service department. It's the very same Department.

The GRO (General Registers Office) is based in Roscommon. It is part of the larger Department of Social Protection which paid out your mans job seekers payment as well as his dead parents pensions. https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/143f25-about-the-general-register-office/

Also, even allowing for the presumption of honesty that the Department has, is it not absolutely mind blowing that a pension of €250 per week (€12,912 PA according to the Pensions Support line) is paid out to people without a yearly in person interview with the claimant by an official from the Department? The weekly pension they are receiving amounts to nearly as much as many people earn in a real job, yet the Old Age Pensioner doesn't even have to attend for an interview or a home visit once a year. Are we mad or what?

Employing an extra 100 civil servants, doing say 12 in person Old Age Pension review interviews per day, 46 weeks a year, would review a total 275,000 claims a year. I'm sure they would more than recoup their cost in savings thy would uncover. And they could also advise the non criminal clients they interview of the other services the Department offers which they may be unaware of.

And finally, I have no doubt that our criminal was claiming an increase in his own Job Seekers payment for his ex partner in Thailand, as well as Child Benefit for their son living with his mother, again all paid for by the same Department of Social Protection

Honestly, you couldn't make it up. Senior heads in Social Protection should roll for allowing this whole fiasco to go on for so long unchallenged.

One of the few things I’d agree with Leo on..

although the term ‘welfare cheat’ is not accurate… ‘thieves’ is accurate however.

the individual was claiming for people who were not alive… stealing.

Not much of a deterrant. I'm sure you could still find 20 shillings lying aboiut somewhere in an old house.

Highly likely yes or he will rent it out for a nice little earner, when he gets out he will be straight down to the welfare office looking for a cheque

Yes if he rented it out he would have a nice lump sum waiting for him when he gets back out to 'go down to the bookies with'.

was it not paid into his bank account? no need to go to a PO

Theoretically anyway, and given the computer capabilities that exist in this day and age, it is possible to literally track anyone from Birth to Death. But maybe its not possible to actually do this due to data protection law's??? I mean a persons PPS Nr should be trackable across all departments?

It's a crazy situation that a GP or hospital don't need to notify the DSP of a death. Leaving it to family or relatives to register the death with the GRO at some future date is an archaic system. As other posters said, we have all kinds of IT capabilities now to handle these events.

IMO, there should be some system whereby funeral undertakers and the burial ground are legally obliged to send details of any burials to the DSP. Not easy to fake a burial and if the undertaker/burial ground needed some sort of paperwork from the DSP to bury or cremate the deceased, then it would happen, otherwise the undertaker would go out of business.

Maybe they do something like that in other countries? I know it takes weeks in the UK to be buried - always wondered why it happens so fast here...

"despite the vigilance of the Department with the highest budget of any State service - an immense €23.3 billion for 2022 - benefit fraud does still happen."

Imagine that welfare fraud does still happen

Offer them work where, exactly?

What kind of employer is going to hire a welfare lifer who doesn't want to work?

I was on JSA for six months about five years ago and had to sign up with seetec. They had absolutely no involvement with me getting a subsequent job yet still hassled me months later despite not being on welfare and this lad was on it for 30, Just wtf?