More than €5.5m was paid out to welfare recipients by the State over the past two years due to errors by the Department of Social Protection.
In 2024, around 2,000 overpayments were made to the tune of €2.25m as a result of “official error,” according to new data.
Last year, however, the value rose by around 45% to €3.26m – paid out to around 2,450 people.
The average overpayment in 2025 was roughly €1,300 with some individuals receiving more than one payment in error.
The Department of Social Protection said recoveries from “official error” totalled €2.76m in 2024 and €3m last year.
However, those figures do not directly correspond to overpayments from 2024 and 2025 and may include repayments from previous years.
The figures show that the scheme with the highest level of error last year was the Contributory State Pension.
Last year, more than €1.12m was incorrectly paid out to old age pensioners in 738 different cases.
That worked out an average overpayment of around €1,500, data released under Freedom of Information showed.
A further €825,000 was incorrectly paid in Jobseeker’s Allowance in 512 separate official errors, roughly €1,600 per case.
There were overpayments worth €284,000 in Illness Benefit and €259,000 for the One-Parent Family Payment.
Errors also resulted in payments of €102,000 in Basic Supplement Welfare, €94,000 in Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit and €82,000 in Disability Allowance.
For 2024, the highest number of errors was made in Jobseeker’s Allowance, with overpayments totalling €613,000.
A further €472,000 was paid out incorrectly in contributory state pensions and €222,000 in Jobseeker’s Benefit.
Asked about the records, a spokesperson said: “Persons who have been overpaid social welfare have a liability to refund the overpayment as they have been in receipt of a payment to which they were not entitled”.
“Overpayments of social welfare entitlements can occur where a person provides false or misleading information in their application or through error on the part of either the claimant or the Department,” they said.
The spokesperson said mistakes by department staff in determining the correct level of payment represented just 2% of all overpayments in a year.
They said recovery would be sought in circumstances where the customer “is expected to have an awareness” that they were getting more than they should.
The department added that errors were addressed internally through on-going training, mentoring, and quality assurance checks as well as IT system enhancements.
Reporting by Ken Foxe
