Report delay sees judge adjourn sentencing of woman who committed passport fraud

Sentencing of a woman whose passport fraud was described as calling into question “the integrity of both the Irish birth certificate registration system and the Irish passport system” was adjourned until May 8.

The case was listed for sentencing today at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

However, defence senior counsel Marjory Farrelly said the defendant had met with a probation officer on three occasions but that there was some delay in the preparation of a probation report, which would not be available within the currency of the present sessions of Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Ms Farrelly said that they previously had a psychiatric report and were awaiting an updated psychiatric report.

In those circumstances, Judge Helen Boyle agreed to an adjournment of sentencing until May.

The 44-year-old non-national woman pleaded guilty to four fraud charges in November. She cannot be identified as it would lead inevitably to the identification of her child which is prohibited in this case under the Children’s Act.

When arraigned at Cork Circuit Criminal Court on four charges she pleaded guilty to each of them. The pleas of guilty were entered as a jury was about to be sworn in for a trial of the case.

She admitted falsely claiming that an Irish man was the biological father of her son, and three counts of false information in passport applications in 2009, 2012, and 2017. This man previously pleaded guilty to his part in this deception.

The first charge stated that she provided information which was false or misleading contrary to section 69 subsection 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, namely that on July 29, 2009, at the Civil Registration Office, Adelaide St, Cork, did provide to the registrar particulars of information which she knew to be false or misleading, knowingly providing false information naming (co-defendant) as the biological father of her child.

The other three charges under the Passports Act 2008 relate to applications for passport renewal for the child.

Detective Garda Mark Hennebry of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) alleged at Cork District Court when the matter first appeared that the alleged offences would have serious repercussions for both systems — registrations of births and passport applications.

Detective Sergeant Keith Cleary of GNIB gave further related evidence. He said obtaining the false Irish passport for the child gave the woman an immigration advantage and she was subsequently able to apply for an Irish passport for herself and her other children who were all born here since and those passports entitled her to claim social welfare entitlements.