SOCIAL PROTECTION TO CLAMP DOWN ON UNEMPOLYED PEOPLE WORKING ABROAD
The Department Of Social Protection is set to clamp down on unemployed people working abroad or on “cash in hand” jobs and “nixers”.
So-called welfare tourism is set to be tackled head on this year.
The Department has issued letters to jobseekers warning them that they are being placed on selective signing. This means they can be called at short notice to sign on, rather than doing it monthly.
The crackdown will also mean that recipients of the dole could face delays to their payments.
Brid O’Brien of the INOU says the word fraud is used too much and that in fact a lot of the issues arise from miscommunications.
“When the Department produces the figures, what’s very striking is that an awful lot of it is misunderstanding and miscommunications” she said.
“So that’s what they realty need to be working on; providing a first class service for people, really working with people – to be able to access what they are entitled to and…to be able to get back to work as soon as possible” she added.
