The Department of Social Protection is owed €475.4 million from approximately 156,000 individual debts relating to the overpayment of social welfare payments.

Minister Regina Doherty revealed the figures earlier this month following a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea.

She said that every effort is made by the department to recover monies owed.

“The general approach to debt recovery is that the value of an ongoing deduction from a personal rate of payment or a regular instalment arrangement does not impose undue financial hardship, is consistent with what the person can afford to repay and allows the debt to be recovered within a reasonable timeframe,” she said. Read More