Minister: Benefit blunder will be fixed

REGINA Doherty was sharply criticised by a senator yesterday as thousands of people entitled to illness benefit were left without payments for weeks.

Thousands of people who are too unwell to work were forced to go weeks with no money after an IT problem halted or disrupted their payments.

Claimant Maria Lynch said she regularly ‘broke down in tears’ while claimant Jacqueline O’Hara said she had to rely on her parents to support her three children after the weekly payments suddenly stopped. But the Minister for Social Protection blamed the IT system, telling RTÉ Radio One: ‘What was a move to bring efficiency to the system has caused nothing but distress.

‘In August, we had an overpayment, lots of people did not notice, so when we corrected to recoup the overpayment in an underpayment a number of weeks ago, they certainly would have noticed that.

‘Going to a real-time system then caused splits in payments.’

Labour Senator Ged Nash criticised Mrs Doherty, saying it was a ‘scandal’ that people were left to rely on others.

He said: ‘It is nothing short of a lottery where working people one week are getting €33 and another week €198.’

One recipient of the benefit told RTÉ’s Liveline she was paid €5.76 in a single payment and others were paid almost random amounts.

Ms O’Hara said: ‘I think I was paid half a payment one week then the rest in a separate payment a day later. Then I went about five weeks with nothing at all.’

Ms Lynch told the show she was owed €750 in September after her weekly benefit stopped going into her bank account.

She told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Saying it is an IT glitch does not explain why people are getting bizarre amounts. I want an answer from her as to why we were put through this. It is as if we do not matter.’

Mrs Doherty claimed she was ‘99% confident’ the 5,000 people affected will be paid by Monday.