Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 250A

Information to be furnished by financial institutions

Section 250A empowers authorised officers to require financial institutions to disclose records and information where a contravention of the Social Welfare Acts is suspected.

• An authorised officer may serve written notice on a financial institution demanding inspection of records or provision of information relevant to a suspected contravention, with a minimum 30-day compliance period.
• The notice can only be served with written consent from a Minister-designated official, must name the claimant or beneficiary concerned, and a copy must be given to that person.
• "Books, records or other documents" is broadly defined to cover all formats — bound volumes, loose-leaf files, electronic records, microfilm, correspondence, and any means of reproducing non-legible records in readable form.
• Failure to comply with a notice is a criminal offence, punishable on summary conviction by a fine of up to €5,000 or up to 6 months' imprisonment (or both), or on indictment by a fine of up to €20,000 or up to 2 years' imprisonment (or both).