Debt collector claimed €20,000 in disability benefit while working

A debt collector has pleaded guilty to claiming more than €20,000 in disability benefits while working.

Donal O’Neill (46), of Shanliss Avenue, Santry, Dublin 9, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to breaking social welfare regulations and claiming payments while employed.

The charges stated he did not tell the Department of Social Protection he had work on a contract-for-services basis which affected his entitlement to disability allowance, and he made a false statement.

Solicitor Joseph Maguire, for the department, told Judge John O'Neill at Dublin District Court that O'Neill worked for a debt-collection company while claiming disability allowance. He said the total amount was €20,084 and O'Neill has repaid €3,260.

Judge O’Neill heard he has been repaying €320 a month and it will take four years and four months to pay off the debt.

A standing order he had set up had stopped, the judge also noted.

The offence can result in a fine of up to €2,500 and/or a six-month sentence in addition to paying back the money.

The social welfare authorities have a mechanism to recover money owed to them, the court also heard.

O’Neill’s solicitor said his client will continue payments and hopes to increase them to €400 a month and he was apologetic about the standing-order “blip”.

Judge O’Neill adjourned the case until June and said he wanted O’Neill’s repayments to be back in operation then.