A Kildare county councillor and former member of Fianna Fáil has pleaded guilty to 28 charges of fraudulently taking more than €200,000 from a voluntary housing association between May 2009 and August 2014.

When Cllr Mark Dalton (51) of Whitecastle Lawns, Athy, entered the plea before Judge Desmond Zaidan at Naas District Court on Thursday, the judge said that as a director of the housing association, he had committed “a serious breach of trust”.

His case will go forward to the Circuit Court in Naas for his sentencing in June.

Det Garda John Butler from Newbridge Garda station told the court he had arrested Cllr Dalton at 9.20am that day.

He said that when the 28 charges – 14 of which are for dishonestly taking the money without the consent of its owner and the other 14 which are for forgery – were put to Mr Dalton he made the same reply to all charges, stating, “I wish to plead guilty to all charges and co-operate fully as I have done from the commencement of the process.”

Wrote cheques

When the offences were committed, the court heard, Cllr Dalton was a voluntary director of the Cill Urnai Housing Association which had third-party contractors employed to maintain the properties it managed. Cllr Dalton’s duties included paying these contractors and the offences were committed when he wrote cheques to himself and lodged them to his own bank account.

Det Garda Butler told the court that the housing association was partially State funded, and that the alleged offences came to light when the housing association’s accountant discovered the irregularities.

Cllr Dalton’s solicitor Frank Taaffe indicated that his client would be entering a guilty plea to all charges and Mr Dalton was formally sent forward for sentencing to the circuit court sitting, which begins on June 19th.

Judge Zaidan asked the detective what the motivation was behind the defendant’s actions.

‘Addicted to gambling’

Det Butler said, “ I believe he is addicted to gambling.”

Judge Zaidan asked if the gambling was on the horses or on something else and Mr Taaffe replied, “All forms of gambling.”

The court was further told that all of the money that had been taken by Mr Dalton was now gone.

Mr Taaffe’s application for legal aid was granted by Judge Zaidan.

Cllr Mark Dalton was a Kildare county councillor from 2004 and 2009 until he lost his seat in the 2009 local elections. He was re-elected to Kildare County Council in 2014, just months before news of the Garda investigation into his actions came to light. Mr Dalton had also been a member of Athy Town Council up to its abolition in 2014.

As a member of the Fianna Fáil party at the time Mr Dalton was also parliamentary assistant to Seán Ó Feargháil TD, now Ceann Comhairle. Mr Dalton resigned from Fianna Fáil in October 2014 and he lost his job with Mr Ó Feargháil.