Court adjourns Lennon case against ASTI

The High Court has adjourned to October 20th legal proceedings by Mr Charlie Lennon, general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI).

Mr Lennon is challenging the conduct of an investigation into expenses claims made by him.

The adjournment, on terms agreed between Mr Oisín Quinn, for Mr Lennon, and Mr Frank Callanan SC, for the ASTI, was granted yesterday by Mr Justice Smyth when the case was briefly mentioned to him.

The judge also directed that Mr Lennon had a week to reply to an affidavit presented to his team yesterday by the defence. The ASTI would then have a further week, should it choose, to reply to Mr Lennon's reply.

The proceedings were adjourned on the basis that injunctions, secured by Mr Lennon from the High Court on September 24th, blocking an investigation by ASTI president Mr Pat Cahill and vice-president Ms Susie Hall into allegations made against Mr Lennon by treasurer Ms Patricia Wroe, continue to October 20th.

Those allegations relate to claims made by Mr Lennon for costs incurred on ASTI business between 1999 and 2001.

In an affidavit to the High Court last month, Mr Lennon said a number of people within the ASTI had engaged in a campaign to undermine him on the basis of suggestions that he had not been "wholeheartedly committed" to the ASTI's approach to the national pay agreement, the PPF, and the union's claim for a 30 per cent pay increase.

Mr Lennon is seeking orders that the inquiry into his expense claims is flawed. He has alleged that Mr Cahill, Ms Hall and Ms Wroe are biased against him.