A Sligo GAA intercounty footballer has received a five-year suspended sentence for “stupidly” defrauding the HSE of more than €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 his ex-employer, the HSE, gardaí and his family for his actions: “I’ve let a lot of people down.” He said he 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 December 28th, 2021 and May 28th, 2023.

Det Garda Conor Jordan told State Prosecutor 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 the HSE was paying invoices raised by Lally’s employer, an unnamed agency, but that the HSE still does not know what percentage the agency takes from care workers, as the agency was not willing to divulge this detail “due to commercial sensitivities”.

The court was told that Lally personally gained only approximately €34,000 of the total amount, and had saved it for a deposit to buy a house. The agency settled with the HSE for a sum of approximately €50,000.

Lally resigned from the agency on July 12th, 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 April 23rd. Several testimonials were handed in from sporting and teaching professionals.

In sentencing, 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.

Johnson said the HSE would also “want to put a lot more checks and balances in, in the way they deal with agencies”.