Áras an Uachtaráin to be asked if it wants ten medals issued to 110 year old man in Laois

Áras an Uachtaráin is to be formally notified of ten President’s medals and cheques being held by Gardaí.

A Police Property Application relating to cheques and Presidential medals- which were issued to a man who would have been 110 years old had he been alive- was brought before Portlaoise District Court. 

The application related to medals found at the home of a Laois woman who had been drawing the old age pension of her father-in-law who had died nearly three decades earlier. In total she claimed over €270,000 in pension payments and the cheques and medals were found at her house by investigating gardaí. She was jailed last month for five and a half years with the final three suspended. 

A person who turns 100 in Ireland is awarded a cheque and a medal from the President of Ireland. They are then issued a medal for every year they reach over 100.   

Garda Inspector Joe Culliton said “the President’s office are the only persons notified in that application on the grounds that medals were awarded to the deceased man and were now the property of the Bergin family." 

“The items were found in the Bergin home in a handbag belonging to Margaret Bergin in a bedroom of the house.” 

Judge Andrew Cody asked if the President's Office had been notified of the application before the court.  

Insp Culliton said the President’s office was notified by email on November 21 last but they hadn’t responded formally.

“My colleague Judge Johnson dealt with this and  Mrs Bergin was convicted of social welfare fraud. There was no conviction in relation to these. I understand there are ten of them,” said Judge Cody.  He said if President Higgins wished to claim them they are his. 

“None of the Presidential cheques were cashed and there is no prosecution in relation to these,” he said. 

Judge Cody said he believed Mr Seamus Bergin, Mrs Margaret Bergin and the President’s office should all be served with notices about the Police Property Application. He said the Bergins and the President’s Office should be notified by registered post. 

“It should be served on both of them at their address in Mountrath,” he said. He also said the President’s office should be formally notified about the application.  

Judge Cody said that if Mr and Mrs Bergin and the President’s office do not want the medals and cheques he will determine what to do with them. 

“I will consider how best to utilise them for a charitable purpose,” he said. 

He said the old age pension exists to help people when they are elderly and most in need and he would like to see the medals used to help a charity which assists the elderly. 

“If either wish to lay claim to them I will hear them on January 17, 2025.” he said.