Lack of pension cited for refusals to resign

Mr James Gogarty had been asked at least twice to resign his directorships of companies within the Murphy group, without a pension…

Mr James Gogarty had been asked at least twice to resign his directorships of companies within the Murphy group, without a pension having been put in place for him, he said yesterday.

Earlier Mr Gogarty told the tribunal he had been forced to work past his expected retirement age of 65. He was worried about providing for his family in the event of his death, he said. He was upset at being asked to resign by Mr Tim O'Keeffe in July 1988. "I was back on my own, hopefully relying on the loyalty of Mr Murphy to honour his promises," he said.

"Mr Tim O'Keeffe handed me an envelope and said Roger Copsey wanted me to sign the forms that were inside, and I opened the envelope, I took the forms out of the envelope and they were another . . ." - at this point Mr Gogarty became upset - ". . . another set of the documents that Conroy had put to me earlier to get my resignation, and this was a document that Copsey wanted me to sign and resign my directorships. Again I had no pension.

"[I was] . . . locked in a situation where again I was kicked in the teeth . . . by the people I fought to recover [the company for], although Senior denied that he was behind it. But . . . I says why should I resign? I will do it as soon as I see that I have a fair chance that I can go home to my wife and family and say, well, if I am dead in the morning, you would have something to live for."

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Later, when Mr Gogarty's evidence regarding an affidavit was questioned, he asked the lawyers: "Sorry, have I no interest in this at all? They are laughing at me and they are getting £1,350 a day for laughing. I came here to the tribunal to get the truth, warts and all, and if I did wrong I am ready to take my place in the queue to pay for it."