A 36-year-old woman has apologised to the Department of Social Protection and a general practitioner for taking advantage of Covid conditions to deceive them.
Last week, Samantha Cookes entered a guilty plea at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee to stealing over €60,000 from the Department of Social Protection.
The money was collected from the State in supplementary welfare, and afterwards in disability allowances for nearly four years.
Ms Cookes had persisted in a fraudulent claim that she suffered from a debilitating and ultimately terminal illness, between 28 February 2020, and 12 June 2024.
Supplementary welfare is a temporary form of payment issued…