A man who fraudulently claimed the pensions of his dead parents for thirty three years and was caught out when his father became eligible for a cheque to celebrate his 100th birthday will be sentenced later today.
Gardaí indicated that Donal "Don" O'Callaghan of 4 Churchfield Green in the city had conducted the largest and longest running known case of welfare fraud in state history.
The 58 year old- who made full admissions in relation to the charges- claimed the pensions of his dead parents Donald and Eileen from 1987 to 2020, defrauding the state out of over half a million euro.
The court had previously heard that O'Callaghan had a chronic gambling addiction for which he was seeking treatment.
Gardai investigating the case also discovered that O'Callaghan's father had been claiming the pension for his wife for seven years following her passing.
Due to the difficulty in obtaining death certificates in the case, Detective Garda Mick Nagle searched the graveyards of Cork City, finding Eileen's grave in Tory Top Road cemetery and the grave of Donald at Douglas Cemetery.
O'Callaghan pleaded guilty to 73 sample counts, 68 in relation to theft and 5 relating to false documentation, while the total amount claimed from the pensions over 33 years was €527,000.
