Maria Redmond pleads guilty to social welfare theft in Dublin

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Maria Redmond pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 14 counts of stealing property from the Department of Social Protection between November 2002 and September 2015. The proceedings were reported on 23 January 2018.

The report said she stole nearly €140,000 in fraudulent social welfare payments. The court heard that she claimed an invalidity pension for 13 years while working as a cleaner at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children.

The court heard that Redmond was eligible for the pension when she first claimed it in 1995 but did not tell the department when she began working in 2002. Garda Ian Abbey said she had two PPS numbers in different names, including her maiden name, Delaney.

When arrested, Redmond told gardaí she did not think she was doing anything wrong because she worked only three hours a day. She said she knew it was wrong to apply for a second PPS number.

Defence barrister Emmet Nolan said Redmond was extremely remorseful and had used the money to pay her mortgage and look after her children. The report said she was repaying the department at €25 a week.

Judge Martin Nolan queried whether Redmond might have qualified for a payment had she declared her circumstances honestly. He adjourned the matter to Thursday to consider that question and adjust the department's loss if necessary.