Man admits to welfare fraud

A Wicklow man who got £23,000 in social welfare money by false pretences has been remanded for sentence to December 15th

A Wicklow man who got £23,000 in social welfare money by false pretences has been remanded for sentence to December 15th. Martin Byrne used five aliases at eight post offices and health board centres in Dublin in 1996 and 1997, prosecuting counsel Ms Pauline Whalley told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

Byrne (36), formerly of Tinahely, Arklow, and with an address also at St Ultan's, Charlemont Street, Portobello, Dublin, pleaded guilty to seven sample charges out of 356.

When defence counsel Mr Erwan Mill Arden asked for the preparation of probation report, Judge Cyril Kelly asked: "In what name should it be?"