The Art Of Welfare Fraud

Creativity is required if an artist is to succeed, and by all accounts Sybil Montague was creative. She was named an emerging visual artist only last year, and Wexford Arts Council does not toss out such awards to those not deserving.

The Irish-born graduate of the Chelsea College of Art proved to be remarkably creative when it came to living as an artist, a profession not known for high salaries.

Ms. Montague got her creative juices flowing and concocted a most creative way to claim dole payments from Ireland while living in London, which has a far more vibrant art scene than Wexford and Cork put together.

All she had to do was present herself to the offices of the Department of Social Protection in Cork on schedule and they gave her money to live on.

Sure she wasn't living in Ireland, but she'd really have a difficult time of it if she did. She's an artist, not a checker at the local Spar market. Hard enough to profit by art, and near impossible in the back of beyond.

But like any artist, Ms. Montague soon learned that her form of artistic expression was not appreciated by all. DSP discovered that she was not residing in Ireland, and that she was gaming the system with her four years of fraudulent claims.

She was arrested in March when she arrived in Cork to go through the motions of pretending to be a needy resident of Ireland.

The authorities had records of her round-trip flights from London to Cork, and that left the artist no room in which to wriggle. She pleaded guilty, and to avoid further difficulties with such Philistines as An Garda Siochana, Ms. Montague replaced the 43,000 euro she had received.

Sadly, another unrefined member of the legal system found that the size of the fraud was so great that it was not a simple matter to adjudicate.

The artist is going to face criminal charges and will no doubt be levied some significant fines and penalties for her crime. How she will come up with the money to pay, however, will require another flash of brilliant inspiration.

Vermeer and Van Gogh died penniless. It's the nature of the business, when one is creative in a time when some talent is not fully appreciated.

Now Available:

THE KING OF THE IRISH --- "History and politics buffs will appreciate the novel’s blending of research on the real-life Cronin murder trials with fictional forays that highlight the discrimination and legal duplicity of the era." --- Kirkus Reviews

When a British spy turns up dead in a Chicago sewer, police detective Daniel Coughlin is swept up in a power struggle between warring factions of the Irish nationalists, a fight that could see him hanged for a murder he did not commit. If his politicial clout does not come through for him, he is a dead man.

Drawn from court records and historical archives, THE KING OF THE IRISH presents the infamous Cronin murder trials of 1889 and 1893 from the perspective of an innocent man caught up in a nightmare from which there is no waking. A gripping tale of political chicanery, politics and greed, the novel examines the price of loyalty and honor in a city long known for dirty politics and crooked politicians.

Also available as an e-book in all formats.