A 72-year-old former field officer with the Irish League of Credit Unions has received a three-year suspended sentence after he obtained loans by deception in the name of his son.
Matthew Heffernan, of Vereker Gardens, Ennis Road, Limerick, pleaded guilty last year to six counts of deception at Berehaven Credit Union in Castletownbere in Co Cork between 2004 and 2009.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court today heard that Mr Heffernan made loans by deception in the name of his son Liam.
The defendant, who walks with the aid of a frame, has paid back the balance of €35,000 which he stole from the west Cork credit union.
Detective Garda DJ O'Shea told how Heffernan had obtained loans from Berehaven Credit Union in the name of his son Liam Heffernan without his knowledge or consent.
When Liam Heffernan found out, he made a complaint to gardaí and a criminal case was launched.
Det Garda O'Shea told an earlier hearing of the case that the monies obtained by Matthew Heffernan in his son's name was for €99,000 but this was repaid.
Further sums were obtained in the form of refinancing and the outstanding amount was about €35,000 which has now fully been paid.
Mr Heffernan had told other members of his family to hang up if anyone phoned the house looking for Liam. Liam Heffernan was living in the UK at the time of the offences which had nothing to do with him.
Defence barrister Alan O'Dwyer said that his client suffered from chronic morbid obesity in addition to a myriad of health complaints. He said that Heffernan had co-operated with gardaí and paid back the monies owed.
The court heard that Mr Heffernan had overseas properties which he had run into difficulty paying for following the collapse of the property market.
Describing the case as a "breach of trust", Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin jailed Heffernan for three years, suspending the entirety of the sentence.
He took the guilty plea, the lack of previous convictions and the compensation paid into account when sentencing Heffernan.
