Westport duo received illegal welfare payments

Payments were sanctioned by Community Welfare Officer

Two Westport men who benefitted from illegal payments sanctioned by a Community Welfare Officer appeared before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday last.
Jason Kelly (48) of 11 Horkan’s Hill, Westport, and James Kilroy (45) of Sheeaune, Westport, were charged with theft after receiving welfare payments to which they were not entitled. Both men pleaded guilty.
The court heard that the pair had received payments from the Department of Social Protection that they were not entitled to but that were sanctioned by Mary McLoughlin, who worked as a Community Welfare Officer with the Department of Social Protection.
Garda Margaret O’Connor told the court that the cases before the court were the result of a four-year Garda investigation.
Under questioning from Pat Reynolds, prosecuting counsel, Garda O’Connor agreed that Mr Kelly and Mr Kilroy were ‘two beneficiaries of the largesse’ of Mrs McLoughlin.

Welfare payments ‘suggested’
The court heard that Mr Kelly was prosecuted on 42 counts and was now pleading guilty to ten of them. In total, Mr Kelly illegally received €10,752.
The ten charges against Mr Kelly consisted of one charge of forgery and nine charges of theft, all relating to Rent Supplement payments.
Mr Kelly was charged with forgery for signing a supplementary welfare allowance Rent Supplement form, which he was not entitled to. The offence was committed on March 31, 2006, at the Health Centre, Westport,
There followed nine counts of theft of Rent Supplement allowance from March 23, 2007, to November 2, 2007.
The court was told that Mr Kelly, with family support, had the full €10,752 to pay back to the Department of Social Protection.
Counsel for Mr Kelly, Patrick Murphy, instructed by James Ward, solicitor, told the court that his client had co-operated fully with the Gardaí. Mr Murphy said his client was ‘complicit’ but that the illegal payments were ‘suggested to him’. He added that Mr Kelly had moved on with his life and was ‘very anxious’ to gain employment.

‘Too good to be true’
James Kilroy was charged with the theft of an exceptional needs payment of €2,000 on March 16, 2010, at the Health Centre, a payment to which he was not entitled.
His counsel, Diarmuid Connolly, instructed by James Hanley, solicitor, quipped that ‘offers too good to be true usually are’.
He argued that it was clear that ‘Mr Kilroy was not the mastermind of this offence’ and that he is ‘remorseful and feels a sense of shame’. He said it was a ‘one-off offence’ and that Mr Kilroy had the money organised to pay back to the Department of Social Protection. Judge Rory McCabe said the case was ‘complex and unusual’. He said the two defendants had benefitted from the ‘connivance’ of a Department employee. He said that while what they had done was not right, it is ‘difficult to identify any serious moral culpability’ on their behalf and that a ‘misguided and criminal’ act by Mary McLoughlin had facilitated it.
He said the ‘primary liability attaches to a system which could facilitate such unsupervised discretion’.
James Kelly received a 12-month suspended prison term and was ordered to undergo 150 hours community service.  
Judge McCabe sentenced James Kilroy to 100 hours community service in lieu of six months in prison.
The case against Mrs McLoughlin is due to be heard in October.