Woman admitted €110,000 Deserted Wife’s Benefit fraud while cohabiting

Niamh O’Donoghue

A carer defrauded the State of over €110,000 by claiming Deserted Wife’s Benefit while cohabiting, a court has heard.

Deirdre Buttner (67) of Winterwood, Kilmactalway, Newcastle, Dublin pleaded guilty to three counts of deception at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on dates between 2014 and 2021. She has no previous convictions.

The court heard there were 29 counts of deception on the indictment and the case was to be dealt with on a full facts basis.

Garda Anna Masterson told the court Buttner was in receipt of Deserted Wife’s Benefit since she separated from her husband in 1985. She is also caring for a person with additional needs and was claiming Carer’s Allowance.

In July 2019 an investigator from the Department of Social Protection, Tracey Talbot, called out to Buttner’s address in Newcastle, Co Dublin, but she previously lived at an address in Tallaght.

Buttner said she was living in a property owned by her landlord, but the spare room looked like it was being lived in. The landlord’s sister, who was living in the US and is now deceased, had pictures of Buttner and the man she was living with on her social media account, and it was established they were in a romantic relationship, the court was told.

Certain expenditures were being shared by Buttner and her partner, including holidays, and the court heard they had travelled abroad quite frequently. The court was told you cannot be in a cohabiting relationship while on Deserted Wife’s Benefit.

Furthermore, Carer’s Allowance is means-tested, and a partner’s income would have to be assessed. Buttner had not declared to the department that she had been cohabiting.

A warrant for the Newcastle address was obtained, and Buttner’s partner was asked if anyone else was in the house, and he replied “yes, my partner”. She was arrested and said it was a landlord/tenant relationship.

The prosecuting garda agreed with Garret McCormack, defending, the total loss in both welfare payments was €112,000 and that half that amount was present in court. A payment plan for the further €56,000 was to be put in place for a repayment of €50 a week, but it would take 20 years to complete.

A document outlining the repayment plan and the proposed future payments was handed to the court on a previous hearing date last month.

Mr McCormack said Buttner was in a platonic relationship with the man she was living with and that he had paid the €56,000 that had been repaid. “Any period of incarceration would have catastrophic effects,” because of her role as a carer, counsel said.

Judge Orla Crowe noted that a €50 a week repayment plan would take 20 years to complete, according to McCormack’s calculations.

“This is a very serious matter – it’s the taking of funds from the public purse,” said Judge Crowe.

Adjourning sentencing for a year, the judge said it was “a very unusual case” and remanded Buttner on continuing bail.