A Gweedore man conned the Department of Social Protection out of €134,000 over a period of 15 years.
Judge Paul Kelly, sitting at Dungloe District Court, said he could not understand why a matter of such magnitude was not being dealt with at a higher level.
Michael O’Donnell, Lower Brinaleck, Gweedore, was prosecuted in regards to four separate years. He pleaded guilty to deception in the sum of €29,885.29 for four sample charges in 2004, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
He admitted that on June 17 2004, for the purpose of obtaining Jobseeker’s Allowance, he put forward false details, namely that his spouse or partner had no capital when in fact they did have money in Allied Irish Bank.
He pleaded guilty to identical charges in respect of April 8 2014, September 6 2016 and December 29 2015.
Social Protection Inspector Mary Joe McGovern told the court the defendant was not disclosing to the department that he had bank accounts.
She said he is repaying the Department at €30.45 per week.
Ms McGovern said the defendant had made an application for Jobseeker’s Allowance in June 2004 and when asked if he had money in banks, he said no.
In February 2019 the Department of Social Protection got an email from Revenue Commissioners of a list of people who had paid tax on the interest on money in banks. The defendant’s name was on that list.
When asked about this he denied he had money in other accounts but gave his consent for the department to seek details.
Ms McGovern told the court the defendant had four different bank accounts and the money was being moved between them.
The defendant had €91,238 in his accounts in 2019.
Defence solicitor Cormac Hartnett said the defendant had major health issues as verified by Dr Delap, but this did not excuse the degree of deception going back to 2004.
At no point did he disclose his accounts and he protected that source of income and added it.
He had started to tell one lie and he continued in that vein.
Things got very difficult in 2018 and the defendant was in a dark place ever since.
The defendant was not in a good financial position and was a separated man who was paying €50 maintenance and €40 repayment which left him with €175 per week.
Judge Paul Kelly expressed strong belief that the case should have been dealt with by the Circuit Court.
He was living with his ex-wife in a county council house until the couple parted in 2016.
Mr Hartnett said “huge tranches of money” were put into the house even though the defendant did not own it, with kerbing, groundwork and improving the house.
His ex-wife still lives in the house, the court heard.
The court was told that O’Donnell wanted to apologise to the department and all concerned.
He has no money at present but is hoping to find work as a carpenter.
Judge Paul Kelly said the defendant was on Jobseekers Allowance from June 2014 to September 2019.
“How did he have just over €91,000 in the bank,” asked Judge Kelly.
Mr Hartnett said the defendant had received €24,000 as compensation for another matter and had been working sporadically.
Judge Kelly said the defendant had €91,000 in the bank by 2019 and had cheated the State and tax payers out of a total of €134,000.
Donegal State Solicitor Ciaran Liddy said the maximum penalty for this offence was €2,500 or six months in jail.
Judge Kelly said he was at a “loss for words in the scale of this deception”.
The matter was adjourned until May 11.
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