Orlaith Fahy wins High Court challenge to fitness test dismissal

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

The High Court quashed the Garda Commissioner’s decision to dismiss Orlaith Fahy as a probationary garda after she failed fitness tests. The proceedings were reported on 1 July 2021.

Fahy had served at Finglas and Blanchardstown Garda stations in Dublin during her probationary period from 2016. In February 2020, the Commissioner notified her that he would dispense with her services after she had failed the tests six times.

Mr Justice Max Barrett noted that Fahy had sustained an injury. In an interim judgment, he held that the Commissioner had misapplied the relevant regulations and acted unlawfully by dismissing her as a probationer when she was no longer one.

Before finalising his judgment, the judge sought submissions on the application of extensions to Fahy’s probationary period. He said that issue could potentially change the result in the Commissioner’s favour, but the court had reached no final conclusion on it. Subject to that issue, he saw no legal deficiency in the Commissioner’s actions, including nothing to suggest a predetermined decision as Fahy had alleged.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.