Mayo man jailed after claiming €80,000 in job seekers while working as a courier

A MAYO-based courier was jailed for two and a half years after he claimed over €80,000 in social welfare over a ten year period while also working as an independent courier.

Fifty-six-year-old Liam Floyd of Foxfield, Castlebar appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court where he pleaded guilty to six sample counts of theft and one count of false accounting after he claimed social welfare while working between 2012 and 2022.

The court heard that Mr Floyd worked as a self-employed independent courier while on social welfare and claimed a total of €80,070.40 over a ten year period before he was detected.

During that time he paid no tax and as a result of his detection he owes the Revenue Commissioners a total of €94,210 and to date has paid back €54,233.

In sentencing Mr Floyd, a father of two children, Judge Eoin Garavan said it gave him no pleasure to send him to jail but stressed a message needs to go out that there are consequences to these types of crimes.

“It seems to me that a custodial sentence must follow. I don't like to put a 56 year old man or anybody into prison but this is a case where the State is ridden with people who think this really is not a crime or a wrong thing to do. 

“As far as I am concerned this is a concerted long-term deliberate pattern of committing an offence and knowing it is wrong and continuing to do it anyway and enjoy that income stream. That suggests a high degree of culpability.

“The message must go out that if you take money from the State in this deliberate and planned manner a serious custodial sentence awaits those perpetrators,” Judge Garavan said.

Judge Eoin Garavan

Judge Garavan was earlier informed that Mr Floyd was detected following joint inspection between the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection of a courier depot in Tuam in November 2021.

As a result of the inspection it was discovered that Mr Floyd who was claiming job seeker allowance was contracted to work by the courier company.

A statement of complaint was forwarded to Gardaí in April 2024 and as a result Mr Floyd was arrested and interviewed in May 2024 in relation to theft.

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Mr Floyd made full admissions that he was in receipt of social welfare payments while working as a courier driver from September 2012 to January 2022. He was charged with 38 counts of theft and one count of false accounting.

Detective Garda Dermot Kenny confirmed that the defendant has no previous convictions and has not come to the attention of the Gardaí since.

The court was told that Mr Floyd continues to work as a courier driver earning €1,100 a week and was making repayments of €1,212.50 per month to the Revenue. These repayments are expected to be made in full by August, 2029 but he has yet to make any repayments to the Department of Social Protection.

Mr Mark Ryan, counsel for Mr Floyd said his client left school when he was 14 and worked as a carpenter in construction. However following the economic crash he was unable to find work and claimed social welfare around 2010.

Mr Floyd, he said, made efforts to go back to work as an independent courier in 2012 on an ad-hoc basis and got little bits of work.

“Needless to say there after, Mr Floyd, and he accepts this and apologises for this, acted in a truly dishonest manner,” Mr Ryan said.

He added that his client developed bad habits and things spiralled out of control which resulted in him coming before court.

“This mistake which he allowed to continue and he should have stopped has landed him in this position,” he said.

Mr Ryan said that Mr Floyd kept working after he was detected in an effort to pay off the money and it will take him until 2035 before he pays back all what he owes.

The court was told that Mr Floyd is in receipt of free legal aid but Mr Ryan said that his client is left with just €250 per week after his expenses are paid and has no assets and did not live a lavish lifestyle.

He asked Judge Garavan to note the probation report which he described as positive and his low risk of reoffending and allow his client to continue to work and pay back what he owes.

Judge Garavan accepted that Mr Floyd is a hard working man but said he was also truly dishonest and committed an appalling offence against the State.

He described the offending as well planned and deliberate with two separate accounts for payments and said Mr Floyd knew he was breaking the law.

Judge Garavan said that the tax payer wants to know that the State will distribute its revenue fairly and those who defraud it will be sternly dealt with.

Judge Garavan said the principle of deterrence in these types of cases are important and imposed a four year prison sentence. He agreed to suspend the final 18 months of the sentence for a two year period on the condition he continues to pay back what he owes to the State.