A 47-year-old Tipperary dentist has been sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay €100,000 after admitting a long-running fraud against the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Jerome Kiely, of Acraboy House, Monard, Co Tipperary, practiced in Tipperary Town. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to multiple counts of deception spanning 17 years.
Last November, Kiely admitted one sample charge of dishonestly inducing the HSE to pay €326 for dentures on May 12, 2015. He was originally charged with 32 counts of deception. On Friday, he was arraigned on six additional sample counts covering offences between November 2010 and September 2019, to which he also pleaded guilty.
In a separate bill, Kiely was sent forward from the District Court on signed pleas relating to 47 further deception charges between May 2008 and January 2025.
Two of Kiely’s bank accounts, containing approximately €830,000 and €667,000, have been frozen.
During sentencing, his barrister said the dentist had “brought utter ruination on himself” by defrauding the HSE over nearly two decades.
The judge said the seriousness of the offences warranted a custodial sentence. He imposed a three-year term, suspending the final two years on strict conditions. These include a requirement that Kiely pay €100,000 to the HSE within three months.
The judge noted the repayment exceeded the amount stolen, describing the additional sum as a punitive measure.