Guilty plea to €17k benefit fraud in Dublin

A woman unlawfully claimed almost €17,000 in one-parent family social welfare payments after she got married, a court had heard.

Catherine Newman, aged 36, of The Pines, Killester, Dublin, pleaded guilty at the Dublin District Court to the benefit fraud.

Judge John O’Neill compared it to a TV advert about fraudulent insurance claims, “where the keynote sentence in the ad is you are putting your hand in other people’s pockets, the same principle applies here”.

Prosecution solicitor Joseph Maguire told the court that Ms Newman had received €16,995 She is paying it back at a rate of €25 a week which is coming out of her family income supplement. The court heard it will take 12 years at the current rate of repayment.

The prosecuting solicitor said the case related to failing to notify the Social Welfare Office she was working and making five false declarations while claiming a one parent family payment.

The court heard that the mother of two was no longer entitled to the one-parent family payment after she got married in 2013.