{"id":245444,"date":"2025-07-07T14:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/245444\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T14:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T14:17:11","slug":"ciaran-magennis-ni-resident-named-and-shamed-for-benefit-fraud-worth-over-16k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/245444\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciaran\u00a0Magennis: NI resident \u2018named and shamed\u2019 for benefit fraud worth over \u00a316k"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ciaran<\/p>\n

Ciaran Magennis claimed \u00a316,904 in universal credit and jobseekers allowance,<\/p>\n

One person has been convicted in Northern Ireland for claiming a total of more than \u00a316,000 in benefits they were not entitled to.<\/p>\n

The defendant was found guilty at Armagh Magistrates Court<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Ciaran Magennis of Mullanasilla Road in Armagh, claimed \u00a316,904 in universal credit and jobseekers allowance while failing to declare income from employment. <\/p>\n

The 30-year-old was given 100 hours community service. <\/p>\n

Magennis will be required to repay any outstanding money wrongfully obtained to the Department for Communities (DfC).<\/p>\n

It comes after the department reintroduced its naming and shaming policy as part of its new \u201czero tolerance\u201d approach to benefit fraud.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, communities minister Gordon Lyons outlined his intention to bring back publicising cases of those convicted of fraudulent claims.<\/p>\n

The proposals were outlined in the Assembly days after the Belfast Telegraph reported a whistleblower\u2019s concerns about \u201cmass abuse\u201d of the system.<\/p>\n

Benefit fraud in NI costs over \u00a3160m a year.<\/p>\n

Mr Lyons warned that \u201cwelfare fraud is not just a financial issue\u201d but \u201ca moral one\u201d.<\/p>\n

“When individuals cheat the system, they are not stealing from a faceless entity; they are taking from their neighbours, their friends, and their fellow citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

“They are undermining the very safety net that so many rely on. Therefore, let me be unequivocal: I am taking a zero-tolerance approach. I am personally committed to rooting out fraud and ensuring that those who exploit the system face the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

However campaigners and anti-poverty activists have argued the approach being taken is “misguided” and warned it increase fear among benefit claimants.<\/p>\n

DfC urges the public to report those they suspect of benefit fraud which can be done anonymously online, by phone or in writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ciaran Magennis claimed \u00a316,904 in universal credit and jobseekers allowance, One person has been convicted in Northern Ireland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[779,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-245444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-armagh-news","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114812383683541496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}