Old article, I thought this was interesting:
Issues in the department were first raised shortly after the launch of the emergency payment on March 16. Internal correspondence, seen by the MoS, shows that at the start of April cross-checks with Revenue found 700 applicants could not show they had been working prior to applying.
Internal correspondence, seen by the MoS, shows that at the start of April cross-checks with Revenue found 700 applicants could not show they had been working prior to applying. They were identified as having no payslips in 2020,
or in the case of the self-employed applicants, no Class S contributions in the relevant year.
https://extra.ie/2020/05/17/news/irish-news/covid-19-welfare-payment-bogus