Should we have an Amnesty for Social Welfare Fraud?

[An Gilladaker]

People could be sent letters to their registered addresses, calling them in to sign on at random times, at two days notice.

You must be a An Post worker that would be good for them

[gatsbygirl20]

During the 1980s, people with no choice (mostly PS workers and other PAYE people with nowhere to hide) were paying tax at exorbitant rates. Unbelievable rates. I remember it well. Everyone else seemed to be involved in some scam or other. Workers were told that they had to tighten their belts as "there was no money in the country". As things improved, instead of these tax dodgers being charged with criminal acts, they were granted 2 tax amnesties. The people accepted this without bitterness or recrimination, so now the same narrative is being recycled.....Fool me once...

By all means grant amnesties to social welfare fraudsters. I would have no problem with it. We have done it before with other scammers. Not putting stuff "through the books" has always been a noble Irish tradition, and is part of what made us great.

So morally neutral has the scamming tradition become, that people can argue with a straight face that if you raise taxes you will "force people into the black economy". Or that "wealth will flee the country". And to prevent the great and the good from having to soil their hands, we arrange perfectly legal scams for them, facing up to the fact that they don't want to be bothered with the pesky taxes which are, after all, only for the little people....

Civil Servants,--- Revenue, Social Welfare, whatever,--- are deeply pragmatic people---despite all this stuff about them "not living in the real world". They know when they are beaten, and when the time is right to talk turkey and trade horses.

Whether it is off-shore scammers or welfare fraudsters, we have to accept that, like with the Peace Process, sooner or later we have to lay down arms and do the negotiation stuff.....so the sooner the better....

[Foghorn]

not sure if it'll work, but in principle i have no problem with it.

if millionaires with offshore accounts are allowed an amnesty then why not welfare scammers.

This is the kinda logic I love! Two wrongs that make a right. Well done Confucious.

[dpbdpb]

Nice to see some people around here coming up with ideas and solutions to the problems, instead of the usual faff.

+1