A post office worker in Sligo who took advantage of what was described as a quirk in An Post's computer system, has pleaded guilty to charges of theft and fraud involving social welfare, child benefit and pension payments.
37-year-old Deborah Hone of Garavogue Villas in Sligo used the loophole to cash social welfare vouchers several months before they were due. She has been sacked by An Post.
Ms Hone was employed as a cashier by An Post at the main post office in Sligo.
Just before Christmas 2004 a woman, who had let her children's allowance build up for a few months, went in to collect it and was told the money had already been paid out.
Then a widow, whose husband had been in hospital in Dublin for some time before he died, checked about his pension and was told it too had been paid out.
An investigation by An Post found that Ms Hone had taken the child benefit and pension books and processed the payments for herself.
A computer check in Dublin then uncovered what was described in court as the 'ghost presentation' of social welfare vouchers not due for payment and the gardaí were called in.
When a social welfare recipient went to the counter with their book of vouchers, Ms Hone would process the payment due for that date.
However, the court was told she would also flick to the back of the person's book and scan a voucher not due for payment for perhaps ten months.
She would process that payment too and keep the money for herself.
Because of a quirk in the An Post system, the computer would accept the vouchers that were not due for payment for several months.
After 21 days there was no record of the payment on the Sligo system, so the same voucher could be presented for payment again.
The total loss to An Post was over €34,600 but Ms Hone says she is anxious to repay it all. She is due to be sentenced in March.
