An internal Department of Social Protection Report says that several fake applicants who have not worked in the previous 15 years, received The COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) funds.
At the beginning of the Covid -19 crisis, an applicant, who listed his last day worked as March 6,2020, and received just under 3000 euros despite official data showing no evidence of employment since 2005, is one of several false claimants detailed in an internal Department of Social Protection report.
The internal audit probe, which was finalised in December 2020, required to assess and tighten the control mechanisms in place to lessen fraudulent use of the marquee Covid payment.
According to the report, there were three claimants who were still in receipt of the €350 weekly pay.
‘Lack of audits’ led to false claims
Over €9bn has been paid out via the PUP to date, with 75,000 people still in receipt of the payment as of this week.
While reviewing the PUP last September, The Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, found that a lack of ongoing checks had led to thousands of people being able to claim the payment without proving that they had lost income.
Some 10,637 payments were stopped by Social Protection up to August 2020, with more than a fifth of those due to the recipients giving an address outside of Ireland on their application.