A medical consultant has taken a High Court challenge to the withdrawal by An Comhairle na hOspideal of approval for the post of paediatric accident and emergency consultant at Tallaght Hospital.
Dr Mary McKay (45), of Ranelagh, Dublin, says the post was approved by An Comhairle on June 28th 1995. She is seeking declarations that she was validly and properly appointed and that the withdrawal of approval for the post is unlawful, and an injunction restraining An Comhairle from contending that she has not been validly and properly appointed. .
She is also seeking damages from it for alleged unlawful interference in her contractual relations with her employer.
Dr McKay is also suing her employer, the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin, incorporating the National Children's Hospital, for damages for breach of contract. In an affidavit she said An Comhairle had on June 28th, 1995, approved the post she currently occupies.
By agreement with her employer, she accepted the post, which was initially at the National Children's Hospital, Harcourt Street, Dublin, and later at Tallaght Hospital. It was an express term of that agreement that her consultancy position was recognised by An Comhairle.
In January 1998, when she applied to the Medical Council to have her name entered in the Register of Medical Specialists, she was told her name did not appear on the list of approved posts as of December 31st, 1996, as furnished by An Comhairle.
The Medical Council indicated the post was no longer approved by An Comhairle. The case is expected to be continue to Friday.