The Department of Social & Family Affairs has saved over €228m so far this year by clamping down on fraud and overpayments.
There has also been a huge increase in the number of people reporting suspected social welfare fraud.
Some 620 department staff spent the first six months of the year checking 328,000 claims for fraud and overpayment.
€55m was saved following reviews of the One Parent family payments.
Pensions accounted for €45m in savings, while €40m was saved following reviews of illness benefit payments.
67,000 jobseekers' claims were reviewed and almost €30m was saved as a result.
Another €39m was saved following reviews of 114,000 claims for Child Benefit.
There has also been a massive increase in the numbers of people reporting suspected benefits fraud - more than 2,500 reports were received from January to June, an increase of 700% on the same period last year.
