Mayo courier jailed for falsely claiming €80k in social welfare

A courier has been jailed after he falsely claimed more than €80,000 in social welfare payments.

Liam Floyd, aged 56, of Foxfield, Castlebar, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to theft and false accounting charges.

There were 38 counts of theft and one of false accounting on the indictment with Floyd pleading guilty to seven sample counts.

The court heard that Floyd is a self-employed courier who was operating as a contractor.

His crimes were discovered in November 2021 when a joint Revenue Commissioners and Department of Social Protection inspection was carried out at a Co. Galway courier depot.

It was discovered that between 2012 and 2022, Floyd had received €80,700 in social welfare payments which he was not entitled to.

On May 26, 2024, he was interviewed by gardaí and made full admissions. The false accounting charge related to the fact that Floyd had failed to file an annual return with Revenue during his career as a self-employed courier.

The court was told he owed €94,210 to Revenue which was not connected to these court proceedings.

Floyd has to date repaid Revenue €54,200 but no repayments have been made to the Department of Social Protection.

The father-of-two has no previous convictions. The court heard Floyd had been earning €1,100 per week as a courier plus the social welfare payments.

He told a probation officer that he had grown accustomed to the dual income streams.

Barrister Mark Ryan, representing Floyd, said his client had previously worked in the construction industry as a carpenter but work dried up in the downturn.

He went on social welfare and continued to claim the payments after finding a new job as a courier. Mr. Ryan said the situation “spiralled out of control".

The barrister said his client is willing to make good on what he stole. The court heard that it would be 2035 before all the money is repaid to Revenue and the Department of Social Protection.

Judge Eoin Garavan said the defendant had “spent 10 years robbing the people of Ireland."

“He decided not pay any tax either,” the judge said before noting that Floyd was on legal aid.

“He is being financially supported by the people of Ireland for stealing from them,” he remarked. The judge said the crime was “well-planned, deliberate, and prolonged."

He handed down a four-year prison term, suspending the final 18 months.

“It gives me no pleasure to give that sentence,” said Judge Garavan.

“But the message must go out that a custodial sentence awaits perpetrators,” he added.

(Funded under the Courts Reporting Scheme).