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A Tesco staff team leader has been spared jail over a bogus Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) claim worth almost €14,000.
Wayne O’Leary (34) of Foxdene Green, Lucan, Co Dublin, had denied three counts of submitting false online PUP applications, resulting in more than €15,000 in payments over three periods in 2020 and 2021. He received the payments after claiming he had been temporarily laid off by Tesco, despite working full-time and seeking a move into management.
He claimed he later discovered his partner had submitted the applications, but Judge Anthony Halpin described his version as extraordinary and incredible.
Following a hearing at Dublin District Court, Judge Halpin found the father of three guilty of two charges related to combined payments of €13,750 into his bank account.
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Convicting and fining him €500, Judge Halpin said: “Unfortunately, dishonesty has become as infectious as Covid-19 ever was and is spreading at an alarming rate in all quarters of society; it may well require us all to undergo a moral vaccination programme.”
He noted money came from false applications for the PUP introduced by the Government to help workers laid off during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
He dismissed the final charge because the €2,100 payment for the connected claim went into his partner’s Revolut account.
O’Leary had contended his partner had been responsible for all the applications in his name, claiming she had a gambling problem. He said he was unaware of the payments until a garda arrived at the couple’s home with a summons. He said she had used the money to gamble and pay for an assessment for one of their children.