The Comptroller and Auditor General has told the Public Accounts Committee that the Department of Social and Family Affairs overpaid €39.4 million in benefits in 2003.
John Purcell told the Committee that fraudulent payments accounted for €13.7million.
Mr Purcell said that this was a relatively small sum compared to the €10 billion paid out by the department.
However, he suggested that the figure only represented the level of detected fraud.
