Cork GAA official secures temporary injunction preventing termination of employment
A senior Cork GAA official has secured a temporary High Court injunction preventing the GAA from terminating his employment.
The action has been brought by Diarmuid O'Donovan, whose family are steeped in the sporting organisation.
He has worked as the Senior Administrator of the Cork GAA County Board, a €55,000 a year position established to assist the day to day work of the board while its County Secretary dealt with the completion of Pairc Ui Chaoimh stadium, since 2013.
The revamped stadium project finished in 2017.
In a sworn statement to the Court Mr O'Donovan says late last year he was informed by the board that his role was not ending but in a three-minute meeting last week he says he was told the role of Senior Administrator was to be discontinued and his employment ended on the grounds of redundancy.
He said he was shocked by the decision and believes the attempt to terminate his employment is inseparable from the controversial costs overrun on the reconstruction of Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
In a sworn statement he said he believes the defendants have identified him with Mr Frank Murphy, the former Cork county secretary who before his retirement had overall responsibility for the Pairc Ui Chaoimh project.
He said that the nature of his role involved him working closely with Mr Murphy.
Mr O'Donovan of Mervue Lawn, Ballyvolane, Cork also told the court that he applied for but was not selected for the position of county secretary following Mr Murphy's retirement late last year.
Mr O Donovan has also claimed that in recent weeks he has been marginalised and excluded from meetings and games he had previously attended.
He said that he had worked some 55-60 hours a week in the role, and says the redundancy is a blatant attempt to remove him from a role he had successfully and effectively carried out and expanded for several years.
The court heard that prior to taking it up he had been Acting CEO with the Evening Echo Newspaper and believed he would continue in the role to retirement.
He claims the decision to discontinue his role must be formalised by the Cork GAA. He says there was an offer of a redundancy payment of approximately €20,000.
He also claims that on the same day he was told his position was to be made redundant a wholly inappropriate WhatsApp message was sent to all the members of the county board that the role of Senior Administrator is to be terminated.
At the High Court today Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds granted Mr O'Donovan an interim injunction preventing Cork GAA County Board, Cumann Luthchleas Gael from terminating his employment.
The injunction was granted on an ex-parte basis with only one side present in court. The matter will come back before the court next week.
Seeking the injunction Frank Callanan SC for Mr O'Donovan said his client had been initially hired on a fixed term contract in 2013, he had continued in his role well beyond the term of that contract expiration in 2016.
It was now their claim that Mr O'Donovan is an employee of indefinite duration counsel added.
