A woman who arranged for a man to falsely claim he was the father of her fourth child in order to get an Irish birth certificate and passport later used that initial fraud to secure residency rights for her other children, reports The Mirror.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court was told that the 44-yr-old woman ultimately managed to gain Irish citizenship for herself, her husband, and other family members as a result of the original deception.
Detective Sergeant Keith Cleary of the Garda National Immigration Bureau told Judge Helen Boyle that the woman had arrived in Ireland in 2008 on a student visa, reports The Mirror.
He said that she had been living with the real father of her children ever since she arrived. The court heard she gave birth to a child in 2008 and convinced an Irish man to be named on the birth certificate as the father.
Det Sgt Cleary said the woman had taken advantage of a vulnerable man, who had previously received a suspended sentence for his involvement in the fraud, reports The Mirror.
The woman, whose identity is withheld to protect her child, admitted to falsely declaring the Irish man as the child’s father and to three counts of supplying false information in passport applications in 2009, 2012, and 2017.
Det Sgt Cleary explained that securing the fake passport for the child gave her an immigration benefit. She then successfully applied for passports for herself and her other children. She obtained Irish citizenship a decade ago, with her husband finally being naturalised in 2017, reports The Mirror.
The detective said the man who falsely claimed to be the child’s father was “out of his depth” and had “felt obliged” to assist her.
When arrested in 2023, the woman said it had all been “a big mistake” and claimed she had only “wanted to name him (the Irish man) as a guardian, reports The Mirror.
The detective told the court her actions had undermined “the integrity of both the Irish birth certificate registration system and the Irish passport system”.
Sentencing was postponed until June 26 to allow for the preparation of a psychiatric report. Judge Boyle said that if mental health issues were involved, they might influence the sentencing.
The first charge alleges that on July 29, 2009, at the Civil Registration Office on Adelaide Street, Cork, she knowingly gave false information under Section 69 Subsection 3 of the Civil Registration Act 2004, naming another man as the child’s biological father. The remaining three charges, under the Passports Act 2008, involve passport renewal applications for the child, reports The Mirror.
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