Questions over people who own several properties getting benefits

The audit office on Wednesday flagged over 800 questionable cases of individuals who received guaranteed minimum income (GMI) but had accumulated a wealth of property.

In a special report for the ministry of labour and social welfare, the audit office called for an improved system that would allow for an automatic update over property changes.

Following the audit office’s investigation, 57 individuals saw their GMI scrapped because it emerged they no longer fulfilled the necessary criteria.

In one case in particular, a GMI recipient was found to have a primary residence and three other homes under their name.

The audit office said it had asked for a briefing over the 57 cases for which it was still waiting for.

Additionally, 588 GMI recipients did not report owning anything more than their primary residence in their initial application, but were later found to own more.

The value did not exceed €100,000 but the report said “questions were raised as to how this property was obtained and why they did not appear in the initial application.”

The findings also flagged that 240 GMI recipients owned property worth more than €100,000 but were then eligible for the benefit anyway.

Additionally, the audit office flagged the importance of an updated system in how the welfare department is kept up to speed over child benefits, disability benefits and applicant details of pensioners.