If there is life after death, it’s possible that 8,000 Irish citizens are living it in style.
The Department of Social Services and Family Affairs in Ireland is starting a “life certification project”, investigating the records of recipients of contributory pensions that are living outside of the country. The department suspects that there are at least 8,000 people receiving payments who have either passed away or who no longer have adult dependents.
The State contributory pension is is €223 (approximately C$334) a week—more if the recipient has an adult dependent.
The first phase of the project, focused on the oldest pensions recipients, started in February when 1,000 letters were sent to pensioners. If the Department doesn’t receive a response within the allotted timeframe, payments will be suspended. However, officials have confirmed that payments can be reinstated should the recipient respond at a later date.
Normally, wrongly made payments to the deceased isn’t a problem in Ireland, because when someone passes away the social welfare authorities are notified immediately. However, 14% of pension recipients live abroad, mostly in the U.K., U.S. and Canada—and their countries don’t automatically contact the Irish authorities when they die.
A spokeswoman for the Minister of Social and Family Affairs said is one of a number of control measures that are in place to reduce errors and irregular payments.
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