THE GOVERNMENT'S efforts to curb social welfare fraud by making individuals receiving unemployment benefit sign on at the post office every week are similar "to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut", it was claimed yesterday.
Bríd O'Brien of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed said she was "disappointed" by the changes to the welfare payment system.
She said to move would force people to change the way they managed their finances.
"This decision will affect everyone who signs on," she said.
"According to the department's survey, only 10 per cent of people were either not resident in the country or not entitled to the payment they were receiving.
"So why should the choices available to everyone be limited because a few people were paid when they shouldn't have been?"
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin yesterday announced that dole payments now have to be collected by recipients at their local post office on a weekly basis, instead of being transferred directly into their bank accounts.
The Department of Social and Family Affairs has suspected for months that significant numbers, particularly workers who have lost construction jobs, have exploited the loophole by claiming benefit here, and then leaving to find work abroad.
Ms Hanafin confirmed the decision was part of an effort to reduce the likelihood of this occuring.
"Every person who is entitled to their benefit - either jobseekers' benefit or jobseekers' allowance - will get their payment every week at their local post office.
"Individuals who are not living in the country and who are not genuinely seeking work are not entitled to claim a payment from the State," she said.
Ms O'Brien said becoming unemployed was a dramatic change in someone's life and it was important that the systems they were used to while working were maintained as far as possible.
"We feel it is really important that people who were used to their wage being paid into their bank accounts are offered this option," she said.
"Having to sign on will make their unemployment more visible, which might be difficult for some people to deal with.
"This adds to the sense of stigmatisation people may encounter when they become unemployed."
Earlier this month Ms Hanafin said she intended to save €25 million this year from her department's budget by cutting down on fraud.
The welfare clampdown is part of the Government's wider plans to save €490 million on State spending.
