A Sligo woman has been jailed for two years she was convicted of stealing €146,000 from the North Western Health Board.
Cara Canavan from Springfield, Riverstown, Co Sligo, wept after the sentence was handed down.
The court heard the mother of two had pleaded guilty to 15 sample charges from a total of 90 charges. The thefts took place at the offices of the HSE at Markievicz House, Sligo on different dates from 2003 to 2005.
She told the court that she used to experience periods of depression but became "excited and giddy" after each shopping expedition.
She spent money on clothes, handbags, make-up and toys for her children but had never worn many of the items which she hid in a locked bedroom in her home.
She created payments totaling over €151,000 but three cheques were not cashed and the total amount involved was €146,063. Last month she pleaded guilty to nine sample counts of theft, involving over €28,000 as well as five counts of unlawful use of a computer and one charge of attempting to steal over €3,650.
Ms Canavan said she was a manic depressive and had at one stage collected lots of tablets and had considered suicide.
Imposing sentence Judge Anthony Kennedy commented that the fact that she had got away with this for over a year could mean that her employer's security system was inadequate, or that the scam was too sophisticated to be discovered.