A LEGAL action over the dismissal of former Irish athletics chief Mary Coghlan has been settled on undisclosed terms at the High Court.
Mary Coghlan had sued the Athletic Association of Ireland (AAI) and the Irish Sports Council (ISC) claiming her dismissal was invalid.
She also claimed the ISC, which distributes Government funding to sporting bodies, was guilty of misfeasance in public office by allegedly putting pressure on the AAI to fire her. She further claimed she was defamed by AAI president John Hennessy in comments he made to an Oireachtas Committee.
Following talks on the fourth day of the hearing yesterday, Marcus Dowling, for Ms Coghlan, told the president of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns that the case had been settled and could be struck out with no order.
The judge said he was glad the parties had come to an amicable settlement and he was satisfied there was good will on both sides. Cases such as these took on a life of their own and could be sometimes difficult to reverse, he said.
In her action, Ms Coghlan claimed ISC chief executive John Treacy and board member Ossie Kilkenny were hostile to her from her first days in the job. She claimed Mr Kilkenny described her as a “cancer” which had to be removed if the ISC was to continue funding the AAI.
The defendants denied the claims and Mr Kilkenny said the “cancer” remark was not about Ms Coghlan but related to issues being discussed between the AAI and the ISC.
In opening the proceedings last week, Brian O’Moore SC, for Ms Coghlan, said the issue in the case was whether the ISC could “effectively bludgeon and compel” a non-governmental body to dismiss its chief executive.
Ms Coghlan “faced the resistance and hostility” of two powerful men in Irish sport – Mr Treacy and Mr Kilkenny – from the day she was appointed, Mr O’Moore argued. This arose out of the ISC’s desire to control the AAI’s high-performance unit for athletes as well as the appointment of the organisation’s director of athletics, he submitted.