The Workplace Relations Commission has directed Blue Diamond Drama Academy Clg (in liquidation) to pay former artistic director Niamh Dillon €29,757.04, less statutory deductions, for unpaid salary and a salary increase. Adjudication officer Brian Dalton dated the decision 5 March 2025.
Dillon said her salary was to rise from €45,000 to €56,000 when the academy’s programme began, but the increase and other wages went unpaid. The academy argued that the increase depended on funding it had not received and disputed that its board had approved it.
Dalton found the increase had been approved to take effect in October 2023, relying on Dillon’s evidence, evidence from the former chief executive and contemporaneous documents. He also found that a board member’s undertaking to pay backpay made arrears due in later payroll periods. The academy called no witnesses.
The academy was set up to create opportunities in Ireland’s creative communities for people with intellectual disabilities. The complaints were decided in a merged case group; the award is reported once and is not combined with overlapping awards in the linked decision.