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Former Inland Fisheries Ireland CEO Francis O'Donnell was targeted over protected disclosures, a WRC tribunal hears. The case continues.
Officials at the Department of the Environment believed former Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) chief executive Francis O'Donnell was targeted through protected disclosures and comments made in the Oireachtas, an employment tribunal has heard. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is hearing O'Donnell's claim that he was unfairly dismissed by IFI and penalised after making protected disclosures under whistleblower legislation.
WRC Testimony on Targeting of O'Donnell
Denis Maher, a retired civil servant who oversaw IFI for the department, testified on Friday that senior officials understood O'Donnell had an entitlement to revert to his previous role after leaving the agency's top position. Under questioning by WRC adjudication officer Michael McNamee, Maher said discussions took place about O'Donnell's position involving himself and his immediate superior, described as the two people charged with overseeing corporate governance for IFI.
Maher said there were discussions around challenges to O'Donnell in relation to protected disclosures and matters aired in the Dáil and the Seanad. He stated that there was a view and discussions that O'Donnell was being targeted by this. The feeling in the department at the time, he said, was that O'Donnell was three-and-a-half years into a five-year contract, which was unlikely to be renewed, but that at least he could revert to his substantive post.
Maher said he and a more senior colleague discussed the matter and agreed that O'Donnell had an entitlement to return to his earlier post based on precedent. He said a document provided to O'Donnell in 2023 by a human resource executive in IFI outlining that he could return to his previous role, which Maher first saw on Thursday, had copperfastened this view.
Dispute Over Right to Revert to Former Role
The WRC heard that O'Donnell had previously been a river basin director with IFI on a salary linked to assistant principal officer grade in the Civil Service. The five-year chief executive post was linked to the assistant secretary grade, which had a higher salary. O'Donnell has maintained that his predecessor as chief executive was permitted to go back to another role in the organisation after his term ended.
In cross-examination of Maher, Tiernan Lowey, for IFI, disputed the idea that O'Donnell had a right to revert to his previous position. He said the situation regarding the predecessor was not an appropriate comparator. Lowey said O'Donnell's predecessor had argued under employment legislation that he was entitled to a contract of indefinite duration. Maher disagreed and said the specific issue was over whether he would continue to be paid at chief executive level.
Lowey said the Department of the Environment and the Department of Public Expenditure would say O'Donnell had no right to revert to his earlier role in IFI. Maher said things may have changed since his retirement in 2024. Lowey also said his clients would argue that the human resources manager had no authority to send the communication to O'Donnell in 2023 about being permitted to return to his previous post.
IFI HR Executive Testifies
Giving evidence for IFI on Friday, a separate former HR executive at the agency, Paula Byrne, who took up her role in 2024, said there was no evidence in any document from the Department of the Environment that O'Donnell had a right to return to another position. Under cross-examination by O'Donnell, who is representing himself, she said she did not have delegated sanction from the department to appoint new people or change things. The hearing continues.
Francis O'donnell Inland Fisheries Ireland Workplace Relations Commission Protected Disclosures Department Of The Environment Denis Maher Paula Byrne
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