Non-nationals or those with dual citizenship are subject to more rigorous or more regular checks simply because the likelihood is much greater that they could be double claiming from both their country of origin & here. The system is open to abuse by anyone, but probably more so by non-nationals purely because an entitlement may exist for either parent to claim in their country of origin.
Obviously, for genuine cases it is a pain, but it is a bigger pain for those who attempt to abuse the system. Some may argue that the controls are not strict enough considering the amount of money that has been saved as a result of existing measures, though I’d guess that the majority of money saved is due to non-nationals returning home for good without informing DSFA.
I suppose one way of avoiding the hassle or at least for less frequent reviews might be to stop making the payments into bank accounts & by payable orders. For those who are employed the payment could be made as a non-taxable source of income not subject to PRSI/income levies etc. through their payroll upon instruction from DSFA. For those who are not employed, instead of being paid by a book of payable orders or into a bank account they could receive the payment by means of a social services card in a Post Office on a weekly basis instead of monthly, similar to unemployment payments that must be collected within a certain timeframe.
Once eligibility had been established to begin with, surely these would be realistic measures to introduce, & both nationals & non-nationals would be subject to the same treatment? It might not fully stamp out double or fraudulent claims, as, human nature being as it is, as long as there is a system there will always be people ready to abuse it, but it would at least go a long way to ensure that people would need to be physically present in the country in order to receive payment.
Does anyone have any idea of what sort of control checks are made in other EU countries for non-nationals claiming the equivalent of Child Benefit?