THE journalist whose dismissal led to the closure of the Irish Press group has won his case at the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The tribunal ruled that he be reinstated.
Yesterday the journalist, Mr Colm Rapple, said he was relieved it was over. It was both a symbolic and practical victory.
The decision meant he had not been sacked and therefore qualified for statutory redundancy and minimum notice payment.
Mr Rapple, who was finance editor of the Irish Press Group, was dismissed last May following the publication of an article by him in The Irish Times.
His colleagues disputed his dismissal, on the basis that the company had not gone through the agreed procedures.
They held a mandatory meeting to make the management change heart, which did not happen, and the newspapers never appeared again. The company was finally liquidated last summer, with annual loses of about £3 million.
The National Union of Journalists said yesterday that the ruling was the clearest possible vindication of Mr Rapple.
It proved that the journalists were right to believe that management had acted in a vindictive and arrogant manner towards an individual worker".
The secretary of the NUJ, Mr Eoin Ronayne, said the decision showed up the failure of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act.
It allowed employers to break procedures and agreements but forced employees to lie down and wait almost 12 months for the matter to be redressed.
Irish Press management put up no argument at the hearing two months ago. Yesterday a spokesman said the decision had been noted, but it was making no further comment.
The 600 Irish Press workers received only the minimum half a week's pay for every year employed under the age of 40 and a full week for every year over 40.
The unanimous judgment ruled that Mr Rapple be reinstated "to the position he held prior to his dismissal, such reinstatement to be deemed to have commenced on the day of his dismissal".
The Irish Press Father of the Chapel (shop steward), Mr Ronan Quinlan, said he was pleased but not surprised.
Colm Rapple has been put through a horrifying public ordeal for no good reason by a vindictive management," he said.