AT LIMERICK District Court a 35-year-old man received a six-month suspended sentence and was given three months to pay the balance of money he owes to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
Matt Larkin, Altimera Court, Thomondgate, Limerick, de- frauded the State of €6,430 in social welfare payments in 2004, Limerick District Court heard.
Larkin pleaded guilty in January 2006 to five counts of falsely obtaining unemployment benefit totalling €6,430 between May and August 2004. Since then he has paid back €1,633 in weekly instalments of €15, the court heard.
At the same court last year Larkin was convicted of making false statements to gardaí about an alleged incident involving Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea. At the time, Larkin vowed to appeal the ruling “all the way to Europe”.
Judge Tom O’Donnell ordered that Larkin pay back the balance of the money owed to the department within three months.
A bank statement produced under order last year showed lodgements into Larkin’s account of €45,852 from December 2007 to November 2008, the court heard.
When State solicitor Micheál Murray asked the defendant to explain a number of large cash lodgements made three months after he finished work with a security company in Ennis last September, Larkin replied: “I often back a horse.”
The judge said Larkin had produced a “tissue of lies”. He said the father of four had done everything in his power to obstruct progress in the case.