A former director of the Small Firms Association has been given a two-year suspended sentence for theft offences.
54-year-old Sven Spollen Behrens pleaded guilty to stealing just over €10,000 from Dún Laoghaire Business Improvement District (BID) in June 2017 and to stealing the same amount from Sandyford BID in August 2017.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Spollen Behrens used the money to pay his children's school fees.
Spollen Behrens is originally from Bonn in Germany.
He met his wife in Brussels and in 2010 they came to live in Ireland.
They set up an optician’s business, putting all of their life savings into it, the court heard, but the business went into liquidation in 2013.
After that, his defence counsel told the court, he was in a precarious position financially.
The court was told Spollen Behrens began working for Dún Laoghaire BID in January 2014, having previously volunteered for them.
He subsequently moved to Sandyford BID and at one point he was working for both simultaneously.
In total he took around €48,000 from Sandyford BID without permission.
However, he benefitted personally from only €20,500.
The court heard he used that money to pay school fees for his son and his daughter.
The rest of the money was used for Dún Laoghaire BID, which had difficulties getting levies in from local businesses.
He told authorities that he diverted money from Sandyford to Dún Laoghaire to keep Dún Laoghaire afloat, without authorisation to do so.
Spollen Behrens became director of the Small Firms Association in September 2017, but stepped down last year just before the charges came to light.
The court heard the money has been repaid in full to Sandyford BID with a loan from a family member.
Defence Counsel, Olan Callanan said Spollen Behrens himself was now at a loss, as a result, because Dún Laoghaire BID still owes around €22,000 to Sandyford.
Mr Callanan told the court Spollen Behrens had made a seismic error which was out of character.
He said his client was still feeling the aftershocks of his error.
He felt very deep remorse for what he had done and had brought shame on his family.
His children had been taken out of their schools and were now living in Poland, which was difficult for them.
Judge Martin Nolan said he did not think Spollen Behrens deserved a custodial sentence.
He imposed a two-year sentence but suspended it in full.
