A sacristan who stole more than £40,000 in parish donations from a north Dublin church during a four-year period has received a two-year suspended sentence from Judge Elizabeth Dunne.
William Shiels (64), of Ferguson Road, Drumcondra, pleaded guilty to five sample counts, out of a total of 21, of the larceny of unknown amounts of money from St Columba's Church on Iona Road between July, 1995, and October, 1999.
The larceny came to light after the church introduced a new computerised system to look after the parish accounts. This included issuing receipts to parishioners who donated money to the parish.
Shortly afterwards, two people complained that their receipts were inaccurate.
Father Joe Mullen, who was in charge of the parish accounts, noted that when Shiels, the parish sacristan, was on holiday the money collected was a lot higher. He looked back over previous years and the same results revealed themselves.
Shiels was arrested and interviewed on October 11th, 1999, and admitted stealing money from the church for the previous four years. It was estimated that over £40,000 was taken.
The court heard that Shiels spent the money on house improvements, various holidays to the United States, Canada and places in Europe and also paid a few thousand pound to send his son on a tattoo artistry course in Germany.
Judge Dunne suspended the sentence because of the guilty plea, the assistance offered to gardai and because Shiels was unlikely to offend again.