A FORMER civil servant who defrauded the Department of Social and Family Affairs of €147,000 by claiming overtime to which he was not entitled has been remanded on bail pending sentencing.
Donal McBride (57) had been working as a higher executive officer for 10 years and had been with the department for 37 years when the fraud came to light.
He retired with a pension of which has been paying back 25 per cent to make full restitution.
McBride, Easton Road, Leixlip, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four charges of deception at Con Colbert House, Con Colbert Road, between August 26th, 2001, and April 6th, 2007.
Fergal Foley, prosecuting, told Judge Yvonne Murphy that the charges represented a sample of 59 counts that covered a period between December 2nd, 2001, and October 12th, 2008.
Det Garda Peter Clifford told Mr Foley that the department had conducted an internal audit and had discovered McBride was the recipient of the greatest amount of overtime. Further checks showed McBride had forged overtime claim forms. He had added his name to a list of employees entitled to overtime after a senior official had signed the form to approve payment to the other staff.
Det Garda Clifford said McBride had “co-operated as much as he possibly could have”.
He said McBride had since received two lump sums from the department which he had paid back to it.
He owes more than €23,000 and is making monthly payments by deductions from his pension. He should make full restitution by the end of 2014.
Det Garda Clifford agreed with Raymond Farrell, defending, that McBride had told gardaí he had been suffering from depression and was an alcoholic.
Det Garda Clifford accepted that McBride had always been held in high esteem and had been described by one of his superiors “as a person of impeccable character”. Another said he had always found him “wholly reliable”.
Mr Farrell said his client was separated with three children. He said McBride began to drink quite heavily in 1996 and also began to suffer from depression in 1999.
McBride attended for residential treatment for his mental illness in April 2009. Mr Farrell told the court his client accepted what he did was extremely wrong as he was a person in authority who had abused a position of trust.
He said McBride had lost his self-respect; had to retire from his position eight years early and was paying a financial penalty for what he had done.
Judge Murphy adjourned sentencing of what she described as “a serious matter” to May.