Caretaker accused of stealing fruit supplied for school scheme

A school caretaker has gone on trial at Dublin District Court accused of stealing bags of fruit which were meant to be given to pupils as part of a healthy food initiative.

Thomas Byrne (55), Howth Road, Raheny, Dublin has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of theft of bags of bananas, apples oranges worth about €66 from Scoil Fhursa in Kilmore, in Dublin 5 between February 24th and March 7th in 2014 when he was employed as a caretaker.

The principal Martin Stynes told Judge Ann Ryan that Scoil Fhursa was in an area designated as socially disadvantaged and thus fell under the scheme, which was run by the HSE and Dublin City Council with the aim of letting pupils try different foods.

Mr Stynes said that there were irregularities, and the school noticed inconsistencies in the supply of fruits and the availability of it to the children.

Mr Stynes said “the teachers were asking why we have no bananas today or not enough oranges”.

He claimed the defendant told him “some days we get more, some days we get less you cannot depend on the delivery.”

Mr Stynes said “given that this person was trusted in his area of work I took him at his word”.

John Mooney, the owner of Glanmore Foods said the fruit was delivered to schools four days a week and free of charge. He confirmed the amount of food which was on the order for Scoil Fhursa.

The trial resumes in March.