Lubov Shevchenko, aged 70, of Peter O’Donovan Crescent, Ballincollig, Co Cork, pleaded guilty at Cork District Court yesterday to a charge of using a false instrument at the passport office, South Mall, Cork, on July 7, 2014.

Inspector John Deasy said the accused made an application for an Irish passport using an Estonian passport which was forged. The passport had been had been reported as missing in April 2009.

Judge John King said the only reason he was not jailing the woman was because she had no previous convictions of any kind.

Emmet Boyle, defence solicitor, agreed with Judge King’s suggestion that yesterday’s conviction could have implications for the accused in terms of her Irish citizenship, even though she has been living in Ireland for the past 11 years.

Inspector John Deasy said during the case yesterday: “On July 7, 2014, the defendant made an application for an Irish passport. In support of her application, she stated she was Estonian.”

She also produced a passport showing her own photograph and purportedly being an Estonian passport.

The main page of the passport showed biographical data but later on inspection, it was possible to confirm that the page with her photograph had been added to the passport and another page with the original photograph had been removed.

Mr Boyle said the accused accepted that she committed this falsehood. He said her plea of guilty was in ease of the state as proving the case and calling all of the necessary witnesses would have taken up to four hours in court. Judge King said that she made a false representation to his state and also uttered a forged document.

“I propose imposing a suspended sentence because she has no previous convictions — the only reason she is not getting a jail sentence,” said Judge King.