The Labour Court awarded Imelda O' Keeffe €17,500 compensation after finding she was unfairly dismissed by Southside Travellers Action Group. The Court issued its decision on 18 May 2018, allowing her appeal and setting aside an adjudication officer’s decision that she was not unfairly dismissed.
O' Keeffe said her dismissal followed concerns she had raised about health and safety, child protection, Garda vetting and programme funding. She also argued that the employer had not followed fair procedures. Southside Travellers Action Group said her fixed-term contract had expired and denied that protected disclosures had led to her dismissal.
The Court found that O' Keeffe had made protected disclosures, but was not convinced that they caused the termination. It found that neither she nor the employer had signed the fixed-term contract, so the statutory exclusion for dismissal at the end of a fixed term did not apply. The employer had put forward no other substantial grounds for the dismissal. The Court ordered compensation and found that reinstatement or re-engagement was not appropriate.