Three civil servants in the Land Registry office and a law agent will be sentenced at a later date at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for corruption in relation to copies of file plans and maps.
Liam Rainsford (43), of Cremore Heights, Glasnevin; Michael Byrne (51), Parkwood Road, Old Bawn; and Alan Quinn (48), of Broadmeadows, Swords, all accepted payment from Dooley's Law Agents Ltd for speeding up the process by which the company received documents from the registry.
Judge Katherine Delahunt heard that the Land Registry was at a loss of €15,000 after Rainsford was personally paid €15.50 rather than the €25 registry fee each time he provided Dooley's with copies of folios and file plans.
Rainsford received a total of €12,508, almost €100 per week, over 30 months for this service.
Byrne, a senior clerical officer, was paid €300 after he photocopied legitimate copies of documents and signed another staff member's name to the document. He speeded up the process for Dooley's by pushing its requests up the queue, saving the company a waiting time of a number of weeks. Quinn, an examiner in charge of the mapping section, received €2,400 after he also organised for the attachment of certificates to maps at a quicker rate than normal and advanced Dooley's requests in the queue.
Gerard Dooley (50), of Cranagh Park, Rathfarnham, of Dooley's Law Agents Ltd, admitted he corruptly gave cheques to Rainsford, Quinn and Byrne between December 2000 and September 2003.
Rainsford pleaded guilty to corruptly receiving four cheques, drawn on Dooley's account, as a reward for the supply of copy folios and/or file plans in relation to the affairs or business of the Land Registry between November 2001 and May 2003.
Byrne pleaded guilty to the same charge and to an additional charge of "making a false instrument" in relation to a land registry document between September 2002 and June 2003.
Quinn also admitted to corruptly accepting four cheques drawn on Dooley's account as a reward for fixing certificates to maps in relation to the business of the Land Registry.
Seán Gillane, prosecuting, told Judge Delahunt the pleas represented a sample of 122 charges.
Judge Delahunt said she needed time to consider the testimonials and adjourned sentencing to a later date.
Det Gerard Doyle told Mr Gillane the Dublin regional manager of the Land Registry office contacted gardaí in May 2003 after she noticed irregularities in relation to requests for file plans.
The requests came from two Dublin solicitors which were represented by Dooley's firm. An investigation traced the applications to Rainsford, who immediately admitted his involvement.
He outlined how he went about processing the applications on behalf of Dooley's without charging them and instead accepting a personal payment.
An investigation of Dooley's accounts found a number of cheques issued were linked to documents received from the registry but only 43 could be attributed to Rainsford. The remainder were linked to Quinn and Byrne.
Det Doyle agreed that all four men co-operated with gardaí, took responsibility for their roles and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. It was also accepted that Rainsford, Quinn and Byrne worked independently of each other and were not aware the others were getting paid by Dooley's company to carry out work.
Det Doyle agreed with Ms Aideen Donnelly SC, defending Dooley, that Rainsford approached a staff member in Dooley's and told him he could speed up the process of getting maps and other documents.
He accepted that Dooley always planned "to make good with the registry" and had €15,000 in court, which Det Doyle had estimated as the total loss incurred. His company had gone into liquidation as soon as the offences came to light.