In a case that has stirred national debate in Ireland, a 56-year-old woman admitted to collecting her deceased mother’s pension for three years, claiming the act was a way to honor her memory. Catherine Byrne from County Meath continued withdrawing pension payments without notifying the Department of Social Welfare about her mother’s death.
According to the Irish Mirror, Byrne never registered the death, which allowed payments to be made uninterrupted for over 36 months. Authorities uncovered the deception recently, leading to her prosecution at the Dundalk Circuit Court.
Byrne told the court she didn’t use the money for personal gain but instead spent it on flowers for her mother’s grave. “It was my way of keeping her alive,” she said.
Despite her emotional reasoning, the court deemed her actions a serious case of welfare fraud. Byrne received a sentence of 240 hours of community service. Additionally, the court ordered her to repay the Department of Social Welfare in weekly installments of €12,000. The total amount withdrawn was not publicly disclosed, but authorities confirmed they would recover the full amount.
The incident has raised wider concerns about the loopholes in Ireland’s death registration and welfare payment systems, prompting calls for tighter controls to prevent similar fraud.
