Heather Humphreys interview: ‘If people have defrauded the system, they should face the full rigours of the law’

Fraudulent PUP claims, the thorny pensions issue and child maintenance reform are among the priorities in 2022 for Heather Humphreys, the minister at the heart of the welfare response to the pandemic

Heather Humphreys, Minister for Social Protection: ‘One of my priorities is that we want to make work pay.’ Picture by Bryan Meade

Heather Humphreys has been at the heart of the government’s multibillion-euro welfare response to the pandemic as the Minister for Social Protection. But one of the moments she counts as her proudest last year was giving emergency rent payments to all victims of domestic violence.

“It’s mainly women who are victims of domestic violence. That’s the biggest step that they’ll ever take to leave the family home. So we want to help them,” she said.