A father of four who used false IDs to fraudulently claim €478,052 in social welfare payments over 12 years has been sentenced to five years in prison.

David Church (39) of Parnell Street in Dublin - and formerly Monadreen, Thurles, Co Tipperary - faced 199 charges of unlawfully claiming jobseeker's allowance and rent allowance at various Dublin post offices between 2002 and 2013.

He pleaded guilty to 13 sample counts at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. It emerged he stole an average of €40,000 a year over the period.

The court heard he drank or gambled a lot of the money.

The court was told that Church had created six false identities by going to the UK and obtaining people's birth certificates.

He then used those identities to claim welfare in Ireland.

The fraud came to light after the Department of Social Protection used facial recognition software to establish that the same photo was being used on a number of social welfare identities.