Muiris Flynn wins unfair dismissal claim at WRC

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Muiris Flynn was awarded €4,000 after the Workplace Relations Commission found that Iarnród Éireann had unfairly dismissed him. Adjudication officer Brian Dolan’s decision was dated 19 October 2022, following a hearing on 7 February 2022.

Flynn had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm, drink driving and driving without insurance at Doon, near Boyle, on 24 September 2017. The Court of Appeal proceedings were reported on 20 October 2020.

At Roscommon Circuit Court in October 2019, Judge Francis Comerford sentenced him to four years in prison for dangerous driving, with the final two and a half years suspended, and disqualified him from driving for eight years. He also imposed a concurrent four-month sentence and three-year disqualification for drink driving, and a concurrent three-year disqualification for driving without insurance.

On 20 October 2020, the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed against the sentence’s undue leniency. The Court of Appeal found it unduly lenient and said it would proceed to resentencing; the report said a judgment was expected by the end of the month.

Flynn’s employment was terminated on 25 March 2020. Iarnród Éireann argued that his imprisonment had frustrated his contract, while Flynn’s representative disputed that and said the employer had not consulted him.

Dolan found that the employer had not demonstrated that the contract ended through frustration. He found that Flynn’s conduct had significantly contributed to his dismissal when awarding compensation. Flynn’s separate minimum-notice complaint was not well-founded because he had been paid for his notice.

This case may have concluded differently. The outcome has not yet been confirmed by a public source we could find.