Woman received almost €30,000 in welfare while in Australia

A woman has been spared a jail sentence for unlawfully getting almost €30,000 in disability allowance payments while she lived in Australia for two years.

Marije Nika (49), a Kosovar refugee with an address at Cardy Rock Square, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, was prosecuted by the Department of Social Protection.

Nika, who fled her war-torn country and came to the State in 2000, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to a charge under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act.

Outlining the facts of the case, prosecution solicitor Joseph Maguire said the woman failed to notify the social welfare office that she was living in Australia from 2012 until 2014.

During that time she continued to claim the disability allowance and obtained €29,996, but has repaid €6,800. She claimed that she went there to look after her sick adult daughter.

She still gets the benefit but with a weekly deduction of €28 and at that rate it will take 16 years to pay back the money. It was her daughter that contacted Balbriggan social welfare office who then investigated the matter.

She is still in receipt of disability allowance and her husband was her full-time carer on a social welfare allowance, the court was told.

Judge John Brennan noted she co-operated, had no prior criminal convictions, was apologetic and that she had been looking after her daughter who had been ill. He recorded a conviction but said he accepted there were extenuating circumstances and he did not proceed to impose a fine or a sentence.