A former principal who stole €204,000 from his school for golf equipment and weekends away has been jailed after his original suspended sentence was deemed too lenient.
Finbarr Boyle, 39, pleaded guilty to five counts of theft and two counts of forgery while he was principal at Kilnaleck National School in Co Cavan between 2007 and 2012.
The shamed former headmaster, who originally faced 23 counts on the indictment, was given a wholly suspended two year sentence on condition he repay €25,000 by Judge John Aylmer at Cavan Circuit Criminal Court on March 15, 2018.
The Court of Appeal found Boyle’s sentence to be “unduly lenient” on Monday, on foot of an appeal brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He was then sentenced to 15 months and immediately taken into custody. President of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice George Birmingham, said Kilnaleck was a small school with five teachers and approximately 70 pupils.
He said the theft and fraud was uncovered following the election of a new treasurer by the school’s board of management in January 2012.
Mr Justice Birmingham said the irregularities fell into a number of different categories.
Boyle, with an address in Ballybofey, Co Donegal, used the school’s Visa card to pay for meals in restaurants, golf equipment and weekends away to the tune of €66,000.
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Cheques were improperly drawn on school accounts amounting to €29,000 and €32,000. Another €2,850 was misapplied from the school’s post office account.
Mr Justice Birmingham said another fraud was uncovered in relation to the School Meals Programme run by the Department of Social Protection. Kilnaleck withdrew from the scheme in 2008 but Boyle continued to submit claims to the relevant department, ultimately resulting in a theft of €73,000.
He added it was “serious offending” by any standard and a custodial sentence was required. Boyle was immediately taken into custody.
