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Child Item

Garda and Social Welfare now combining for checkpoints

Owen

Friend was stopped by a Gard checkpoint in Ballincollig this week, and there was a Social Welfare officer present. Asked him as many questions as they could, who he was, what was his PPS number was he working, same questions to the other people in the vehicle.

Anyone else find it a tad too much? [EDIT: removed this bit about demographics on hindsight and helpful advice from posters] and the ordinary guy on the street now can't take his car out on the road without being given the 3rd degree.

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Dob74

Funsterdelux wrote: »

Fraud is fraud, whether one is a big fish or a small fish!

In a country of dwindling resoures you most make management decision.
Do I watch developers tranferring assets out of there names and handing them to there spouse's. Or do I go after someone doing jobs for cash.
The government obviously fell that the small fish are the ones to target.

Well I disagree, if you catch one developer moving 100 million in assets it will take alot of cash jobs to make that up.
Time to target the big fish, then go after the small fry.

[Deleted User]

All this talk of small fry is all well and good, ye are forgetting about the folk who are long term unemployed and who have all the benefits of that (housing for very little, medical card etc etc) and who work for cash on a more or less full time basis for years. It is the likes of those folk who are being targetted.

HooterSnout

I've never claimed the dole, but I tell you one thing. If I ever did, it would take a lot more for some little man or woman from the smelly social office, stopping my van with the guards to hide behind, to get me to confess to my bit on the side

All joking aside, I would slag the utter bejebus out of their sad little jobs and refuse to answer any of their questions and I would be an absolute gentleman to the Gardai. Okay that was two things.

mudokon

I'm imagining someone doing this outside the dole office. :pac:
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Padraig Mor

robbie7730 wrote: »

So someone on welfare that cant afford to pay their bills gets €20 for painting someone`s living room and is committing fraud? ?

Well yes, they are.

corkcomp

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Well yes, they are.

+1. or to look at it from a different perspective - maybe they paint ten living rooms a week at more like €100 per job!! ?

Bruthal

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Well yes, they are.

Have you been in that position before? There are planty of people comminting fraud on it alright. But i would not consider someone tryin to feed family and pay bills but cant afford it as comitting fraud. But maybe they are. But i would think trying to survive is more on their mind.

If they are painting 10 rooms every week for 100 euro a go then yes they are.

There are plenty of perfect people on boards who would do things they say in their posts are wrong, if certain circumstances arose.

Funsterdelux

robbie7730 wrote: »

So someone on welfare that cant afford to pay their bills gets €20 for painting someone`s living room and is committing fraud? I take it you never had to claim before so. Or never ever got handed a few euro for helping someone out in your life without mentioning it to the revenue?

You can assume all you like, its not about me! And as RJ said they're targeting people who are/have been defrauding the state for years and know the ins and outs of the system. I think the thing is where do you draw the line, I'm not talking about catching every person who's on welfare and gets the odd few quid here and there.

Bruthal

Funsterdelux wrote: »

You can assume all you like, its not about me! And as RJ said they're targeting people who are/have been defrauding the state for years and know the ins and outs of the system. I think the thing is where do you draw the line, I'm not talking about catching every person who's on welfare and gets the odd few quid here and there.

Well the best place to start with people defrauding the state is with the ones that have been running it for the last decade or more.

Funsterdelux

robbie7730 wrote: »

Well the best place to start with people defrauding the state is with the ones that have been running it for the last decade or more.

Sure they have to be got too.

Padraig Mor

robbie7730 wrote: »

But i would not consider someone tryin to feed family and pay bills but cant afford it as comitting fraud. But maybe they are. But i would think trying to survive is more on their mind.

It doesn't really matter what you or I think - receiving payment for work while also claiming the dole is illegal, no ifs or buts (outside of certain defined activities). If you're that hard up that you literally cannot survive on the dole (doubtful given that it's so generous), there are also a range of other social welfare payments available to which you would be entitled, as well as cash from your local CWO (as is well known to our many professional scroungers who probably need a 'leg up' less than many of the recently unemployed, or the 'working poor).

Bruthal

Padraig Mor wrote: »

It doesn't really matter what you or I think - receiving payment for work while also claiming the dole is illegal, no ifs or buts (outside of certain defined activities). If you're that hard up that you literally cannot survive on the dole (doubtful given that it's so generous), there are also a range of other social welfare payments available to which you would be entitled, as well as cash from your local CWO.

Lots of things are illegal, and we all break some of them sometime.

Padraig Mor

robbie7730 wrote: »

Lots of things are illegal, and we all break some of them sometime.

Five year old's excuse.

Bruthal

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Five year old's excuse.

An excuse is used by people in the situation. Im just saying not everyone is as perfect as others.

Funsterdelux

now

HooterSnout

Padraig Mor wrote: »

the 'working poor).

That's me. I'll be sitting on Pana Tweed Cap in hand soon enough. I'm regretting not giving change to all those poor buggers before. What goes around comes around.

keithclancy

robbie7730 wrote: »

Other european countries are not neutral, should we copy that too? Or maybe we have now the way its gone.

So its a licence now? The difference is people walking down the street dont need to have a driving licence. A driving licence indiates you have passed a driving test. What does an ID card indicate, that you passed a test to exist?

Im not saying your wrong ar anything like that. I just think the whole idea of them is like a tightly controlled society. To not be able to go out without an ID card seems a bit controlling. What if you lose it, pay for another one? Its like a licence to be alive.

I'm Irish and live in the Netherlands. Its perfectly fine to not carry Identification. If you do something wrong and cannot prove your identity, your held in custody until you can verify who you are. If you have a valid identity document (Passport or National ID Card) then your grand.

So its not a big conspiracy, in 3 years since i've been here i've been asked once at the Dutch/German border to have a look at my passport incase I was an illegal immigrant.

Your PPSN Number in Ireland is essentially the same as everything Government related is linked to it. Its just more difficult to prove you are that person without a valid method of identification.

Blazer

In this day and age I've absolutely no problem with it.
I work, I pay a fortune in taxes and I'm not here to work my ass off to keep some of the welfare crowd in their cushy lifestyle. (Note I used the word "some" as in the wasters who still claimed it during the boom years etc and the nixers).
The country is fúcked, the Public/Private sector have been badly hit and no we can't keep spending €20 billion every year on social welfare.

CorkMan

We could spent the €20 billion on social welfare if the government taxes the ultra-rich more and burns the bankholders.

Padraig Mor

CorkMan wrote: »

We could spent the €20 billion on social welfare if the government taxes the ultra-rich more and burns the bankholders.

No we couldn't.

Steba

Lets face it, as crime rates are rising, the governments only choice is to exact actions such as this!

DanWall

About 3 years ago my daughter who live a couple of mile out of town had a prowler looking through her patio doors, she call us and the Garda, it took about 40 minutes before they turned up, the prowler was well and truly gone. The next night I was driving in to town and I was stopped at a checkpoint manned by 5 Garda. There is no money in going to call-out emergencies. Their priorities are all wrong

CharlieCroker

OT but anyway

Two separate nights!! How do you know what the guards were doing on the night in question? They could have been tied up with anything!!
The 2nd night might not have even been the same guards.

AGS do not get commission for giving out tickets at checkpoints, they aren't given targets so the fact they were doing a C/P the next night bares no relation to your daughters incident.

If you're in the city, there could be 10 calls lined up waiting to be dealt with. If you're in the country, you might have one patrol car covering a massive area.

booboo88

corkcomp wrote: »

social welfare officers are well known for using every trick in the book to catch people out. I know a guy who was on the dole while working as a carpenter, he had his own van full of tools etc and he used to borrow his mothers car to go to the social welfare office because they had people checking for presence of vans / work vehicles!

this is exactly why they a re doing the checkpoints? he's working and claiming dole? im in a full time job and i cant even get a medical card(long term illness blah blah blah) 5 trips to docs already this year, refused to go last week just for the money value.

dont get me started about the ppl who moan about "only getting the dole":mad:

booboo88

DanWall wrote: »

About 3 years ago my daughter who live a couple of mile out of town had a prowler looking through her patio doors, she call us and the Garda, it took about 40 minutes before they turned up, the prowler was well and truly gone. The next night I was driving in to town and I was stopped at a checkpoint manned by 5 Garda. There is no money in going to call-out emergencies. Their priorities are all wrong

ah sure they need to stick close so their tea doesnt burn;)

robbie_998

Lads can i ask a question should i ever be stopped at one of these checkpoints

I am currently working... have being since i was 16 non stop

i have never ever claimed anything from the social welfare adn so on even when im entitled to i choose not to !

Last year for 4 months i worked 8 hour weeks and never claimed a cent
after than i worked for 20hours a week and never claimed a cent (during this job i also work anything up to 80 hours a week during christmas !)
at the moment for the last 4 months i work 30 hours a week and dont claim anything

i am entitled to claim but i choose not to

now very recently i bought a car through good hard earned cash i have saved up myself by working hard and honestly

come the end of this month i may be out of the job and will have to sign on if i cant find another job

if that happens and i end up getting stopped at one of these checkpoints is it fair that i get investigated or the gardai take the car off me ? (07 car btw)

how will they justify what is fair and not fair ?

will they just suspect me straight away off fraud and so on and try to take away any means of income off me ?

i can see why its being done but can this go against the honest person too thats just unfortunate like in my case ?

(just to add i have everything on my car paid off and just stick petrol in it when needed)

CharlieCroker

Can't see why it'd be an issue. If in doubt photocopy the logbook with the date of sale on it. This will show you bought the car before you started signing on.

Tbh, plenty of other people in a similar situation who bought new cars and were subsequently laid off.

54kroc

robbie_998 wrote: »

Lads can i ask a question should i ever be stopped at one of these checkpoints

I am currently working... have being since i was 16 non stop

i have never ever claimed anything from the social welfare adn so on even when im entitled to i choose not to !

Last year for 4 months i worked 8 hour weeks and never claimed a cent
after than i worked for 20hours a week and never claimed a cent (during this job i also work anything up to 80 hours a week during christmas !)
at the moment for the last 4 months i work 30 hours a week and dont claim anything

i am entitled to claim but i choose not to

now very recently i bought a car through good hard earned cash i have saved up myself by working hard and honestly

come the end of this month i may be out of the job and will have to sign on if i cant find another job

if that happens and i end up getting stopped at one of these checkpoints is it fair that i get investigated or the gardai take the car off me ? (07 car btw)

how will they justify what is fair and not fair ?

will they just suspect me straight away off fraud and so on and try to take away any means of income off me ?

i can see why its being done but can this go against the honest person too thats just unfortunate like in my case ?

(just to add i have everything on my car paid off and just stick petrol in it when needed)

Your not what there looking for, nothing to worry about.