Corkman who 'took a chance' jailed for Ireland's 'largest welfare fraud'

Donal O’Callaghan was collecting his dead father's pension for 33 years. His father, in turn, collected his dead wife's pension for seven years

Back in the 1980s, Donal O’Callaghan started to claim a joint pension for his parents even though both of them were dead. Photo: Dan Linehan

The Cork man responsible for “the largest and longest-running case of welfare fraud in the history of the State” has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Judge Helen Boyle imposed a sentence of four-and-a-half years with the last year suspended in the case against 59-year-old Donal (Don) O’Callaghan at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.