Woman, 82, spared jail for €200k social welfare fraud over 28 years

An 82-year-old woman has received a suspended sentence for claiming over €200,000 in social welfare payments using the name of a dead woman.

Mary Cullen began using the name of her partner’s deceased wife in 1987 at the suggestion of her partner. Over the years, she claimed job seeker’s payments, rent and fuel allowances, pre-retirement payments and, most recently, pension payments.

Cullen, of Portland Row, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 30 sample counts of falsely claiming social welfare, using false instruments, and possession of false instruments between 1987 and 2015 in Dublin.