News
€48,000 welfare fraud student caught using false identity
Facial recognition software, used by the Department of Social Protection to clamp down on welfare fraud, identified an NUIG student who was claiming social welfare under a false name over a five-year period.
A blue jacket, worn by the final year engineering student while fraudulently claiming social welfare at two city Post Offices, also helped seal the fate of Aboubakar Youssouf (36), with addresses at 4 Clifden House Apartments, Newcastle, and Carraig Laith, Newcastle.
Youssouf pleaded guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court last March to 22 sample counts of stealing an estimated €47,821 from the Department of Social Protection on dates between October, 2011 and January, 2015.
The court was told he was fraudulently claiming €259 per week under a false identity and that no money had been returned to the State.
Detective Julie McCormack of the Special Investigations Unit, based in Dublin, gave evidence at the sentence hearing last week that on February 26 last year the Identity Control Section at the Department of Social Protection checked their database, using facial recognition software, and discovered the accused was using his own identity and a similar, fraudulent identity to claim social welfare payments between October, 2011 and January, 2015.
The accused, she said, had used his false identity to register for asylum in Ireland in 2005 and he claimed Job Seeker’s Allowance and Rent Allowance from October, 2011 to January of last year, receiving €259 per week.
Det McCormack said Aboubakar was now a French national and was resident in Ireland as an EU citizen.
He was arrested on May 8 last year in relation to the welfare fraud.
He told Gardai he came from Sudan originally and registered for asylum in France in 2003 under his real name.
He travelled to Ireland in 2005, while still waiting for asylum in France, and registered for asylum here under the false identity – which was a variation of his correct name and date of birth – and received direct provision here in 2005 and 2006.
He went back to France and got asylum there in 2007, becoming a French citizen and receiving a French passport. He then returned to Ireland in 2011 and used his false identity again to claim social welfare.
Judge Rory McCabe asked Det McCormack if Youssouf had come here in 2011 as a French citizen, and looked for asylum here by claiming he had come from Sudan.
She explained he was going to college here under his true identity while claiming social welfare under the false identity.
Judge McCabe asked what had happened to the accused’s Irish asylum application and was told it had not been fully finalised but he had been given Irish travel documents – under the false name – so that he could travel.
Det McCormack said Youssouf’s house was searched last May and a number of documents were seized that linked him to his true identity, including his French passport.
A false driving licence, a social welfare card, a public service card, bank accounts and all the social welfare documents which bore his false name and details, were also seized.
Det McCormack said a blue jacket was found during the search which matched a jacket Youssouf regularly wore when he went to fraudulently collect social welfare payments at Bohermore and Renmore Post Offices. The transactions were captured on CCTV at the time.
Det McCormack said Youssouf was in his final year in mechanical engineering in NUIG and was also working in a local restaurant.
She said he was married to a Chad national, who is also an EU national and she was entitled to stay here. The couple have two children, she added.
Det McCormack said she didn’t know if the State was supporting Youssouf’s education at NUIG.
Defence barrister, Brendan Browne said the accused used the money to support his family and send money home to his sick mother.
She said Youssouf had been offered a place on the Masters Programme and if he was given an opportunity to complete his exams, his job prospects might help him make restitution to the State.
She said he was due to sit his exams next month and would take the place on the Masters Programme if his results were good.
Judge Rory McCabe said this had been a well-planned, premeditated, long-term fraud and the layers of cheating involved were evident.
The accused, he said, had systematically increased his illegal access to State payments, even while working.
The judge said the accused was fortunate his criminality was being dealt with in this jurisdiction as he had told the probation service himself that the range of penalties in his country of origin were very severe.
Judge McCabe said the appropriate sentence was three years and six months for each charge to run concurrently, but he adjourned sentence for one year, to allow the accused finish his education, to give him time to reflect on how he will pay back the money and to make preparations for his wife and children while he goes to prison.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
