A former principal at a Co Cork Gaelscoil has been given a one-year suspended jail sentence after she pleaded guilty to a number of fraud offences that led to her school being paid almost €250,000 in education grants to which it was not entitled.

Aileen Ní Cheallaigh (36) of Mill Road, Midleton, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to a total of five charges relating to her time as principal of Gaelscoil Mhuscraí in Blarney in 2005-2009, which resulted in an overpayment of capitation and ancillary service grants totalling €244,000.

Ní Cheallaigh admitted that she dishonestly furnished information to the Department of Education in relation to the enrolment submissions for each of five school years beginning in 2005.

She admitted that she made use of a document required for accounting purposes that she knew was misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular, contrary to the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001.

Det Garda Alan McCarthy told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Ní Cheallaigh overstated the numbers of children attending the school in a given year so that the school would get extra capitation grants of €197 per child and extra ancillary services grants of €147.

He said Ní Cheallaigh did not benefit personally from the fraud and she used the money for the provision of accommodation and payment of extra teachers at the school. The Department of Education had so far recouped some €69,000 of the money by deducting it from grant payments.

Fully co-operative

Defence counsel Tom Creed SC, said it was the Director of Public Prosecutions who recommended the teacher be prosecuted even though it was recommended by An Garda Síochána that she receive an adult caution and not be prosecuted.

He said his client was just a year out of teacher-training college when she was made principal at Gaelscoil Mhuscraí, which was founded in 2003 and was still in its infancy. “What she did do to keep the show on the road was to say there were more pupils there actually were,” he said.

Mr Creed asked for his client, who is currently teaching elsewhere but whose future as a teacher was dependent on the outcome of the case, to be given the benefit of a dismissal under the Probation Act following her plea of guilty.

But Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin rejected Mr Creed’s application and said Ní Cheallaigh’s position at the time was one of too great a responsibility and the offending behaviour went on for too long to apply the Probation Act, and he imposed a 12-month jail term, which he suspended in its entirety.