Leo Varadkar has moved to deny reports in today's newspapers about the levels of welfare fraud - saying his own department has given out the wrong information.

It follows a report in the Irish Times this morning - based on figures published by the Department of Social Protection - which claimed the department had identified only case of identity fraud so far in 2017.

The minister has been under fire for spending €200,000 on his campaign to encourage suspected fraud, which many have seen as an attempt to stigmatise welfare recipients.

But Varadkar says his department issued the wrong numbers - and identity fraud is more common than his own civil servants had claimed.

He also claimed this evening that identity fraud, the specific category being discussed here, was among the least common examples of fraud: