The High Court has refused an application by firefighter John Madden to stop Louth County Council making a further promotion from its 2019 sub-officer panel while he challenged an independent referee’s decision on his appeal against the competition result.
Mr Justice Allen ruled on 30 June 2020 that Madden had not met the applicable threshold for an interlocutory injunction. He said the action was unlikely to come to trial and that the order sought would, in practice, determine whether the remaining promotion was made from the existing panel. The risk of injustice to the council if the order were granted was clear, while the possible harm to Madden if it were refused was uncertain.
Madden, a full-time firefighter/driver with Louth County Council, had passed the written examination and presentation in the 2019 competition but scored 70 out of 150 at interview and did not qualify for the panel. The interview board had been given a marking form calling for separate scores across three competencies, but awarded an overall interview mark instead. An independent appeal referee, senior Meath County Council executive Ger Murphy, reviewed the process under terms agreed by Madden and the council. Murphy found that the board had applied its overall-mark approach consistently, although he considered that the final marking scheme ideally should have been made available to candidates before interview.
Madden’s High Court challenge concerned Murphy’s procedure. He argued that Murphy departed from the agreed process and breached natural justice by discussing the matter with interview-board chair Ned O’Connor without telling Madden what was said or giving him an opportunity to comment. The council disputed that the process was unfair.
Justice Allen said Murphy’s terms of reference placed him in control of the process and did not require a paper-only review. The court was not satisfied that speaking to O’Connor gave rise to a fair issue for trial; even if it did, the case was not strong enough for the injunction. The judge also noted that Madden had not identified practical unfairness or explained how the information from O’Connor could have changed the appeal outcome.
The court said the injunction would have blocked the expected promotion from the panel, on which two appointments had already been made. Madden could not claim a right to the remaining position: even if his challenge succeeded and led to a rehearing, he would still have to succeed in a future competition and rank high enough for promotion. The motion was refused. The ruling addressed the interim application, not a final determination of the underlying action.