Redundancy of FAI aide 'unfair'

A former personal assistant to Packie Bonner was unfairly selected for redundancy by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), an Employment Appeals Tribunal has heard.

Vanessa Tucker (38), Sundrive Road, Rush, Co Dublin, was with the FAI for nearly 10 years when made redundant in November 2010 along with 12 others.

Ms Tucker was made redundant as her role was “non-core” and her duties could be subsumed by others, FAI director of human resources Stephen Driver said. He denied a “hit list” had been drawn up and acknowledged Ms Tucker had been with the FAI for a substantial time, but it was decided not to proceed on the basis of “last in, first out”. Ms Tucker will give evidence to the tribunal on December 17th.