Gardai and social welfare officers have been busy on Irish roads in recent weeks carrying out spot checks on motorists.
Drivers are being quizzed about their social welfare entitlements in a bid to catch out fraudsters.
The most recent of these checkpoints was carried out by several state agencies in Co Tipperary yesterday.
Gardai from the Tipperary Roads Policing Unit carried out the multi-agency checkpoint in Roscrea along with the Road Safety Authority, as well as social welfare and Revenue officers.
A truck driver was stopped and their heavy goods vehicle was found to have several defects.
According to gardai, the HGV had no tachograph chart, no CPC (a Driver Certificate of Professional Competence), and a number of defects including broken trailer lights and a cracked windscreen were identified.
Despite the lifting of Covid-19 inter-county travel restrictions, officers are still taking to the roads in large numbers.
Officers from the Department of Social Protection joined gardai at a checkpoint in Waterford this week, while a "number of detections" were made at a stop in Co Wicklow last week.
It emerged last month that officials are also checking social welfare entitlements, including for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, at checkpoints across Ireland.
The Department of Social Protection confirmed that it participates in Multi-Agency Vehicle Checks (MAVCs) alongside members of the gardai and Revenue.
Officials at these checkpoints are tasked with the "detection and prevention of suspected fraud and abuse of the social welfare system".
The Department said that these checks have taken place for "a number of years", but now include inspecting eligibility for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
They added that the main group targeted in these operations are people in the transport sector, such as those on their way to work in "commercial vehicles, haulage and taxis".
