The Irish Council for People with Disabilities was yesterday ordered by the High Court to continue paying the salary of Mr David Lonergan, who claims he was appointed chief executive officer of the council in 1998 but his position was terminated four months later.
The council and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform were also restrained from appointing another CEO. Both oreders are to continue pending legal proceedings.
Granting the interlocutory orders, Ms Justice Macken found that Mr Lonergan (47), of Grosvenor Place, Rathmines, Dublin, would suffer irreparable loss if deprived of his salary pending the hearing of the case.
The judge directed that Mr Lonergan undertake in the interim to do any work previously performed by the CEO should he be requested to do so by the steering committee of the Irish Council for People with Disabilities (ICPD).
The orders were issued following a reserved judgment on proceedings taken by Mr Lonergan against the ICPD, the Minister and Mr George Salter-Townshend, of Speranza, Castletownshend, Co Cork, a member of the board and management committee of the ICPD.
During a hearing last month, Mr Patrick Keane SC said his client, Mr Lonergan, had been dismissed after he had discovered that an ICPD employee had obtained a £5,000 salary increase without apparent authorisation and was also receiving £400 per month for travelling expenses.
On October 5th last year, a management committee meeting of the ICPD purportedly dismissed Mr Lonergan, ordering him out of his office by 5 p.m. that day, counsel said.
In an affidavit, Mr Lonergan said the only notification he had received of the termination of his appointment was an internal unsigned memo to which he had responded with a letter saying he still considered himself to be in the employ of the ICPD.
In another affidavit, Mr Salter-Townshend said Mr Lonergan was first hired by the ICPD on a six weeks' consultancy basis and was retained in a consultancy capacity acting as CEO.
In mid-June last year, it was envisaged Mr Lonergan would be retained as CEO for a probationary six months, subject to the approval of the Department of Justice and the ICPD board.
A contract for the proposed employment of Mr Lonergan was placed before the board on September 26th, but it declined to approve it and referred the question of Mr Lonergan's continued consultancy to the management committee. Mr Salter-Townshend claimed Mr Lonergan's proposed appointment as CEO had never been ratified by the board.
