A Co Meath based doctor who defrauded the Hse of funds over a four-year period has received a fully suspended prison sentence. Fifty-three-year-old Rionach Slattery, with an address at Tara appeared before Trim Circuit Court on multiple charges of fraud against the Hse. When Dr Slattery was originally charged in the district court in 2021 she faced charges involving €266,330 but this was later reduced to €12,345. The frauds took place at the Johnstown Group Practice at Old Johnstown, Navan between 2012 and 2015.
The court was told that payment for special consultations were for the intention of making gains for herself contrary to Section 6 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. The defendant was told by Judge John Martin that her relationship with the Hse had been based on trust but that was a trust that she had breached. What she had done was premeditated and not something that was done through a slip or inattention.
Defending barrister Breffni Gordon said that his client was a single mother of four who was rearing them single handedly while working as a qualified GP since 2000. The judge noted the defendant’s clean record and how her family had said that there had been a “loss of respect” for the accused.
The court was also told that the Hse did not deal with the issue by suspending Ms Slattery. While the defendant had offered to pay back what she had taken the judge said “that’s just paying back what you took” and added that she should be paying double with interest. She was given an 18- month prison sentence suspended for two years. She is also to enter a peace bond, do 240 hours community service and pay €25,000 which will be donated to the National Rehabilitation Hospice, the Meath Community Drug and Alcohol Response and St Francis Hospice in Blanchardstown.
