Court archive

Court reports mentioning Carrigaline, Cork

2026-03-16 · Cork

Cleaning supervisor left jobless when new contractor took over Pepsi contract wins €22k

Edel Kelly won €22,315 in compensation after the Workplace Relations Commission ruled that Bidvest Noonan (ROI) Ltd breached her employment rights. Ms Kelly, a cleaning supervisor at the Pepsi concentrate plant in Carrigaline, Co Cork, was left jobless in July 2025 when she did not transfer to the new contractor. She had been site-banned by Pepsi management in April 2025 following a dispute over a factory audit. In separate proceedings, Ms Kelly alleged that PepsiCo's Irish arm and Portfolio Concentrate Solutions UC effected a "third-party dismissal" via the site ban. PepsiCo argued she lacked standing as she was not their employee. Adjudicator Tom O'Driscoll rejected Bidvest Noonan's argument that the site ban excluded her from the transfer of undertakings. Citing EU law, he found that her employment relationship existed at the date of transfer, and her rights could not be defeated by operational imperatives. He determined that Ms Kelly was dismissed due to the contract change without consultation, breaching Regulation 10 of the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003. The award comprised seven months' pay for dismissal and four weeks' pay for failure to consult. The report details the adjudication and final award, with no adjournments recorded for the validated hearing stage.

2026-02-12 · Cork

PepsiCo site-banned cleaner after flies found ahead of internal audit, WRC hears

A cleaning supervisor, Edel Kelly, has been left jobless after being banned from a PepsiCo factory in Carrigaline, Cork, following a dispute over hygiene. Kelly, who worked for Mount Charles, a contract cleaning firm, was banned in April 2025 after flies were found during an audit. She claimed the audit was not properly explained to her and that the site ban was unjustified. Kelly had worked at the factory for three years and said there were no prior issues with her team's work. She argued that the site ban effectively ended her employment as Mount Charles had no alternative roles for her in Belfast. Kelly is also pursuing a separate complaint under the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003, alleging that Bidvest Noonan, the new cleaning contractor, breached the regulations by refusing to transfer her into its employment. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) hearing heard that PepsiCo's human resources lead confirmed Kelly was an employee of Mount Charles and that she had no appeal process with Pepsi to clear her name.

2024-03-14 · Cork

Dependents of criminal not entitled to State compensation over shooting, High Court rules

The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application brought by Eddie Cunningham Cummins and Erica Cunningham Cummins, residents of Heron's Wood, Carrigaline, Co Cork. The applicants challenged the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal's refusal to compensate them for the 2005 shooting death of their father, Eddie Cummins Senior, in Ballincollig, Co Cork. Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty ruled that the Tribunal was correct in its decision, finding it not disproportionate or discriminatory to deny compensation to dependants where the victim died as a result of their criminality. The court noted that Mr Cummins Senior had over 20 convictions, including for drug offences, and that the killing was believed to be drug-related. Although the judge expressed sympathy for the "blameless children," she held that the State's policy of deterring crime justified the refusal. The Tribunal had previously rejected the 2011 application due to time limits and the victim's conduct, a decision upheld on appeal in 2022. The applicants sought to quash the Tribunal's decision and obtain declarations that it was irrational or breached their rights. The court found that the applicants failed to establish that the Tribunal acted outside its powers, fettered its discretion, or made an unreasonable decision. No one has been prosecuted for the murder.

2024-02-01 · Cork

Health & Safety company takes action against former CEO and others

Occupli Limited has brought a High Court action alleging that its former CEO, Chris Mee, and others unlawfully accessed and used the company's private, confidential and commercially sensitive information. The plaintiff claims that Mee, his daughter Catherine Mee, former employees Julie Twomey and Leah Murphy, and a firm allegedly owned by Mee, EHS International Ventures Ltd, have solicited Occupli's employees and clients, thereby damaging the company's economic interests and reputation. Occupli seeks temporary injunctions to prevent the defendants from interfering with, deleting, or using its information and to preserve any data on their IT systems. Mr Justice Mark Sanfey granted an interim injunction on an ex‑parte basis, noting that the defendants have strongly denied wrongdoing. The case remains adjourned, with the court allowing parties to return before the scheduled date. The action is based on alleged breaches of a prior settlement that included non‑compete and non‑solicitation provisions.

2023-10-24 · Cork

'Accommodation' reached in injunction application involving pharma solutions group

In a High Court hearing on 24 October 2023, Mr Simon Healy, a 25 % shareholder and former Executive Chairman of Navicorp Limited (trading as Navi Group), applied for a temporary injunction to prevent the company's directors and other shareholders from transferring his shares. He alleged that his dismissal in September 2023 was wrongful and that the defendants were acting oppressively to benefit Mr John Carroll, the 75 % shareholder and CEO of Navicorp. The company denied the claims, calling Healy a "bad leaver". After extensive negotiations, the parties reached an accommodation: the disputed meeting was postponed, a valuation of Healy's shares was to be undertaken, and the injunction application was to be rescheduled for 19 December. Mr Justice Mark Sanfey adjourned the case to that date, praising the parties' efforts to resolve the dispute.

2023-05-05 · Cork

Former exec at Deloitte fails in bid to halt criminal prosecution

Brian Murphy, a former senior audit partner at Deloitte, lost his appeal against a High Court ruling that he could be criminally prosecuted for alleged tax offences. The High Court had ruled in May 2022 that Murphy could be prosecuted following a summons issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in February 2014 over a VAT refund claim for a company he directed, and a further summons in October 2015 concerning alleged tax return offences between 2008 and 2012. Murphy denied wrongdoing and argued that a settlement agreement reached with Revenue in August 2015, which required monthly payments of €4,000 and annual lump‑sum payments of €20,000 to €75,000, created a legitimate expectation that he would not be prosecuted. The High Court judge, Mr Justice Garrett Simons, found that the agreement did not contain any representation that the DPP would not pursue criminal proceedings and dismissed Murphy's claim of a breach of legitimate expectation.

2023-01-17 · Cork

Ex-Deloitte partner appeals High Court ruling that he can be criminally prosecuted

Brian Murphy, a qualified accountant and former Deloitte audit partner, appealed a High Court ruling that permitted his criminal prosecution for alleged tax offences. The Court of Appeal heard arguments regarding whether a 2015 settlement agreement with the Revenue Commissioners created a legitimate expectation that he would not be prosecuted. Mr Murphy, of Carrigaline, Co Cork, denies wrongdoing and argued that oral representations and the absence of a prosecution reservation clause in the signed document implied immunity. He contended that the High Court judge erred by applying contract law rather than the principle of legitimate expectation. Counsel for the Revenue and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) argued that the DPP is an independent body not bound by Revenue agreements and that the omission of a non-prosecution clause was an error. They maintained that the threshold for legitimate expectation was not met. The High Court had previously found that the 2015 agreement, which involved monthly payments of €4,000 and annual lump sums, did not represent a promise against criminal proceedings. In the Court of Appeal, the panel of judges, including Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, Mr Justice George Birmingham, and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, reserved their judgment. The matter was adjourned, and no final decision was reached during this hearing.

2022-12-12 · Cork

Children of man shot in alleged 'gangland drugs killing' challenge compensation refusal

Eddie Cunningham Cummins and Erica Cunningham Cummins, residents of Heron's Wood, Carrigaline, Co Cork, have brought a High Court judicial review against the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal and the Minister for Justice. The applicants are the children of Eddie Cummins Snr, who was killed in a shooting in Ballincollig, Co Cork, in 2005. The Tribunal initially refused their compensation claim in 2021, citing that the application was made outside the statutory time limit and that the victim's conduct, including previous convictions and the nature of the killing, rendered an award inappropriate under Article 13 of the scheme. The applicants appealed this decision, arguing that Article 13 applies only to the conduct of the applicant, not the deceased victim, and that the children were innocent of their father's actions. The Tribunal upheld the refusal in 2022. In the current proceedings, the applicants seek to quash the Tribunal's decision, claiming it was irrational, breached fair procedures, and violated their rights under EU law, the Irish Constitution, and the European Convention on Human Rights. The matter was heard by Mr Justice Charles Meenan, who granted the applicants permission to bring the challenge on an ex-parte basis. The case was adjourned and made returnable to a date in February.

2021-07-26 · Cork

Serial fraudster jailed after more fake documents are discovered

Emma Fehily, 37, was sentenced by the Court of Appeal to three‑and‑a‑half years' imprisonment, with 18 months suspended for two years, on two counts of forgery and two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The sentence follows the discovery of two further forged documents, one purporting to be from a doctor and another from a counselling service, which were found by Fehily's own defence team. The documents were dated 2018 and were not new materials prepared for the appeal hearing. Fehily had previously pleaded guilty to multiple theft offences and had been given a fully‑suspended one‑year sentence in 2020, which the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed as unduly lenient. The judge noted that Fehily had shown little or no remorse and that her legal team had acted diligently in uncovering the forged documents.

2021-06-28 · Cork

Would-be ATM thief who almost caused massive explosion fails in appeal

A would-be ATM thief who almost caused a massive explosion that could have killed him has lost his appeal against the severity of a five-year jail sentence imposed for attempting to blow up an ATM at a filling station in Cork last year. Evan Stubbins (25), an unemployed single man from Church Road, Croom, Co Limerick, was convicted at Cork Circuit Criminal Court last November for the possession of explosives after pleading guilty to possessing a blow torch and canisters containing oxygen and propane in an attempt to blow open an ATM at the Maxol garage at Carr's Hill, Carrigaline, Co Cork on August 2, 2020. He also pleaded guilty to separate charges of criminal damage and attempted theft. At a sitting of the Court of Appeal, counsel for Stubbins, Ray Boland BL, argued that the sentencing judge, Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin, had not given the appellant a sufficient reduction from the headline sentence of seven years for his signed guilty plea. Counsel said the judge had also erred by failing to further reduce the length of the sentence by taking into account various mitigating factors including Stubbins' youth, his cooperation with gardaí and the fact that the offence was committed under duress as part of his efforts to pay off a drug debt to unnamed individuals. The matter was adjourned.

2021-06-24 · Cork

Sentence imposed by judge unhappy about 'utter joke' of early release will be overturned

The Court of Appeal will re‑sentence Emma Fehily, a 37‑year‑old fraudster, after the Circuit Criminal Court imposed a one‑year fully suspended sentence that the Director of Public Prosecutions argued was unduly lenient. Jane Hyland BL presented evidence that Judge Sean O'Donnabhain had expressed displeasure with Fehily's early releases, describing them as a "complete and utter joke" and suggesting the governor of Limerick Prison had not taken white‑collar crime seriously. Fehily had pleaded guilty in 2020 to forging character references and had prior convictions for multiple thefts totalling over €25,000 and €34,000. Mr Justice John Edwards said the sentence was outside the norm but could not re‑sentence today because the defence had failed to provide evidence for claims of depression, self‑harm and suicide attempts. He ordered that medical evidence be supplied before a new hearing on 26 July, noting that the court would not allow Fehily to remain at liberty until then.

2014-11-17 · Cork

Indebted taxi driver loses appeal against 10-year sentence for €1.3 million cannabis possession

Trevor Williamson, a 48‑year‑old taxi driver from Carrigaline, Co. Cork, was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment with the final two years suspended by Judge Patrick Moran in the Cork Circuit Criminal Court in May 2014. The sentence followed his conviction for possession of 99 kg of cannabis resin, valued at €594 000, found in nine boxes he had taken from a house during a Garda surveillance operation. Williamson's co‑accused was given a wholly suspended sentence. The Court of Appeal rejected Williamson's appeal, noting that the sentence was not excessive but that there was a significant disparity between his sentence and that of his co‑accused. The judge highlighted that Williamson had recruited the co‑accused and that the quantity and value of the drugs were substantial, justifying the imposed term within the statutory range for the offence. The appeal was dismissed by Mr Justice George Birmingham.

2014-05-13 · Cork

Widow unable to recover six figure sum awarded for workplace accident

Helen Guiney, a widow from Kiskeam, Mallow, Cork, was awarded €794,765 in damages after her husband John died in a work‑related accident at a site in Raheen, Carrigaline in November 2000. The award was obtained against his former employer, MJ Manning Construction Ltd., which has since ceased trading. The insurer, UK‑authorised Independent Insurance Company Ltd (IICL), entered provisional liquidation in 2001, and creditors of IICL were expected to recover only 10‑15% of their claims. Mrs Guiney applied to the Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF), established under the 1964 Insurance Act, to recover the balance. In May the Accountant of the High Court refused her application, stating that the policy held by MJ Manning with IICL did not fall within the 1964 Act as amended in 2011, because IICL was liquidated before the amendment. The Accountant also noted that responsibility for the claim lies with UK authorities supervising IICL.