A retired chauffeur claimed in court yesterday that the Egyptian government had reneged on a €14,000 golden handshake which two ambassadors had promised him on his retirement.
Mr James Swan (75), Rochestown Park, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, told Judge Barry White in the High Court that he had been told by the late Abdullah Fouad Hafez and his successor, Mr Hasam Salam, that he would receive the special end-of-service payment if he worked on beyond normal retirement age.
Mr Barney Quirke, for Mr Swan, said his client had continued chauffeuring the ambassadors around until he was 71 and then discovered that the Egyptian government was refusing to honour the oral agreements he had reached with Mr Hafez and Mr Salam.
Mr Quirke said that when a civil bill had been issued in the circuit court, a conditional appearance had been entered on behalf of the Egyptian Embassy, which later succeeded in having the proceedings set aside by Judge Katherine Delahunt on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.
The embassy claimed Mr Swan's employment was related at all times to the exercise of the diplomatic functions of the ambassador of the day.
Judge White dismissed the appeal on the grounds that he was constrained by the Supreme Court ruling on diplomatic immunity.