A Sligo inter-county Gaelic footballer and former Irish International basketball player has received a five-year suspended sentence for "stupidly" defrauding the HSE of over €84,000 while he was saving for a house deposit.
Taking the witness stand at his sentence hearing at Sligo Circuit Criminal Court, Cian Lally, 28, apologised to the HSE, his ex-employer, the Gardaí and his family for his actions.
"I've let a lot of people down," he said.
Lally said he had committed the thefts out of "complete foolishness and naivety."
"I wanted to save for a house deposit at the time and stupidly continued to do this. I’m very, very sorry for that," he told Judge Keenan Johnson.
Lally, of Drum Road, Rathcormac, Co Sligo, pleaded guilty to forging signatures on timesheets to make it look like he worked more hours than he did when employed as an agency care worker for the HSE at Rusheen House, a community house for four adults with an intellectual disability, in Doonally, Sligo on dates between 28 December 2021 and 28 May 2023.
Detective Garda Conor Jordan told State Prosecutor Mr Leo Mulrooney that the total loss to the HSE came to €84,647.71 as Lally had submitted 226 false invoices over an 18 month period.
He agreed that the HSE was paying invoices raised by Lally’s employer, an unnamed agency, but the HSE still doesn’t know what percentage the agency takes from care workers as the agency wasn’t willing to divulge this "due to commercial sensitivities."
The court was told, however, that Lally personally gained only approximately €34,000 of the total amount and had saved it for a deposit for a house. The agency settled with the HSE for a sum of approximately €50,000.
Lally resigned from the agency on 12 July 2023. In his Garda interview, Lally said the offending started soon after he had received an overpayment from the HSE, which went unnoticed, and then he "went down a rabbit hole."
Lally is currently training to be a primary teacher and was teaching in a local primary school up until he pleaded guilty on 23 April. Several testimonials were handed in from sporting and teaching professionals.
In sentencing, Judge Johnson said Lally was "a man in a hurry, blinded by saving for a house" and to steal from the public purse was "outrageous." He ordered Lally to make "full restitution" of the loss of €84,000 to the HSE by repaying the outstanding €34,000.
He sentenced Lally to five years in prison, suspended for seven years on condition Lally has €20,000 in court next July for a charity and has been deemed suitable for Community Service.
Judge Johnson said the HSE would also "want to put a lot more checks and balances in, in the way they deal with agencies."
