GAA boss Davy Fitzgerald's son spared jail for stealing €35k from former employer

Sunday World

2 days ago

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Court hears thefts were made to feed a 'serious' gambling addiction
Colm Fitzgerald outside Ennis Circuit Criminal Court (Photo: Brendan Gleeson)
Colm Fitzgerald, (28), of Castlequinn, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, stole the money while employed to be in charge of cash at a cash counter, at Bank of Ireland, Shannon Industrial Estate, Shannon, Co Clare, on seven separate dates in 2023, the court heard.
Fitzgerald, who immediately resigned after the thefts were discovered during an internal audit, told the bank and gardaí that he stole the cash to sustain a gambling addiction.
Fitzgerald's barrister, Kenny Kerins, told Ennis Circuit Criminal Court that 'steeped in GAA' Fitzgerald had paid all of the money back with the support and assistance of his family.
Mr Kerins said Fitzgerald was caught in a 'serious' grip of addiction to sports gambling and that he had 'expressed relief' when the thefts were discovered.
Fitzgerald admitted stealing the cash in bundles of €5,000 on seven separate dates in 2023.
Mr Kerins told the court: 'He was living a life of secrets, he has remorse, he has shame. This young man had everything going well in his life, he was engaged in sport, he had a job, and in seven actions, he absolutely destroys his career'.
The barrister told the sentencing hearing last Friday that, prior to the discovery of the cash thefts, Fitzgerald's gambling had become so serious the well-known bookmaker chain Paddy Power banned him from betting with them.
'They were so concerned that they wrote to him and banned him from gambling with them… this was a serious addiction for Mr Fitzgerald,' Mr Kerins said.
'His life was completely out of control, so much so that he sees all this as a positive thing, he sees it as a disengagement from his addiction.'
Colm Fitzgerald outside Ennis Circuit Criminal Court (Photo: Brendan Gleeson)
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Mr Kerins said when Bank of Ireland's auditors discovered €35,000 was missing, Fitzgerald prepared a document that would have concealed 'his deceit' but he 'cancelled it almost immediately'.
'He was about to further his criminal endeavour, but he stopped it. He went home and told his grandfather and close family, he knew the jig was up and he came forward, he met with bank officials and made admissions, he resigned and met with gardaí by appointment,' Mr Kerins said.
'That is to his credit, he faced up to it, he is a gentleman.'
Mr Kerins said Fitzgerald was 'aware' thefts from his employer were 'unacceptable' but he said Fitzgerald had taken responsibility for his offending as well as measures not to return to gambling.
'He and his family are steeped in GAA, which was perhaps how he became involved in [sports] gambling.
Mr Kerins said Fitzgerald had 'engaged with therapeutic services and had worked as a courier' to pay his family back the money they reimbursed to the bank.
The barrister said Fitzgerald has, along with his partner, opened a coffee shop in Sixmilebridge, employing four people, and that Fitzgerald had 'taken careful steps' to limit his own 'access to the business's finances and cash, so there is oversight'.
Colm Fitzgerald outside Ennis Circuit Criminal Court (Photo: Brendan Gleeson)
Detective Garda Paddy Bourke, of Shannon garda station, told the court he believed Fitzgerald had done all he could to co-operate with the garda investigation as well as trying to tackle his addiction and that he hopes to 'to continue to do so'.
CCTV footage located at cash counters had expired by the time the bank discovered the thefts and alerted gardaí, and so Fitzgerald's pleas were valuable to the prosecution, the court heard.
Mr Kerins said Fitzgerald had 'no previous convictions', had engaged in a residential therapy programme run by the Bushypark Addiction Treatment Centre, and he continues to attend regular Gamblers Anonymous (GA) meetings.
'He's not seeking to blame anyone, he developed a low-level gambling addiction which snowballed and got out-of-control while he was working as an employee of the bank – the court is aware of the compulsive nature of gambling addiction,' Mr Kerins said.
Prosecuting barrister Sarah-Jane Comerford said the prosecution 'accepted [Fitzgerald] was suffering from a gambling addiction at the time'.
Judge Francis Comerford said Fitzgerald 'took bundles of cash from his employer each worth €5,000' and that he considered a two-year headline sentence to be appropriate.
'It was a significant breach of trust, it was a significant offence, and the aggravating factor is that it was theft by an employee from their employer'.
Reducing the sentence to 12 months, the judge said: 'It wasn't a commercial calculated crime, so that tends to put it at a lower level, and it was discovered very quickly.'
Judge Comerford suspended the jail term for 18 months, and directed Fitzgerald to continue engaging with gambling support services.