Department of Social Protection officials would be permitted to participate in Garda interviews with suspects in complex cases involving welfare fraud under new legislation being examined by the Government.
Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary is looking at plans to put in place such provisions, which follow on from a report by a government-appointed review group in 2020.
Mr Calleary’s proposals would allow an official from the department with expertise in a relevant area to sit in with gardaí for interviews in cases involving social welfare fraud.
A spokesman for the Minister said the Hamilton review on economic crime recommended that legislation should be amended to allow An Garda Síochána to engage an expert from a relevant regulatory or investigative body to participate in interviewing a detained suspect.
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“The review group believed that such interviews, particularly in the more complex investigations, could be rendered more efficient and effective, without compromising the rights of detained suspects, by allowing the participation of such an external officer or expert where their knowledge or expertise is relevant to the investigation and to the intended line of questioning,” the spokesman said.
“The Minister for Social Protection is currently considering proposed legislation which would give effect to this recommendation.”
The proposed measures to give effect to the recommendations in the economic crime review could form part of broader social welfare legislation which is being drawn up by Mr Calleary.
The Minister is to introduce legislation to give effect to changes required in relation to pensions for bereaved partners. This follows on from a Supreme Court ruling last year in a case brought by John O’Meara following the death of his long-term partner Michelle Batey, who was mother of his three children.
The court found unconstitutional provisions of welfare legislation which maintained that a widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s contributory pension was only available in cases where the person was married or in a civil partnership.
Mr Calleary told the Dáil earlier this year that in simple terms, the court found that section 124 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (as amended) was inconsistent with the Constitution insofar as it excluded the claimant from the category of people entitled to benefit from it.
“The court reached that conclusion on the basis of the equality guarantee contained in Article 40.1 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court judgment notes that to resolve the issue raised by the judgment, a legislative amendment is required,” the Minister said.
