The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Pat Gorman €38,500 after finding his dismissal by Inland Fisheries Ireland unfair. The decision, dated 14 December 2023, also found a technical breach over accrued annual leave but awarded no compensation for it.
Gorman had worked for the state agency for more than 37 years. The agency said his conduct breached trust: after his suspension, he returned its tractor with his teenage son driving and took an agency boat onto a lake. Gorman said he believed the tractor had to be returned that night and that he was under severe stress.
The adjudicator found the suspension punitive and unfair, and concluded the dismissal followed neither a fair process nor a reasonable response. The decision says the dismissal was for those incidents, not for anonymous allegations, which were not proven. It also found that Gorman significantly contributed to his dismissal through a serious error of judgement, reducing compensation by 50%. Reinstatement was not considered appropriate because the relationship between the parties had effectively ended.