Cork Councillor Mr Con O'Leary was breaking the law by holding a directorship of Gurranebraher Credit Union knowing he had convictions for criminal offences, the High Court was told yesterday.
Dr John O'Mahony SC said that under the 1997 Credit Union Act Mr O'Leary, who is chairman of the credit union branch, was legally disqualified from acting as either director or chairman because he had convictions for dishonesty and fraud. "He was convicted of receiving stolen goods in 1965 and in 1974," Dr O'Mahony told Mr Justice Butler.
Dr O'Mahony appeared with Mr James O'Reilly SC for former branch manager Mr Alec Goode, Hillcourt, Donnybrook, Douglas, Cork, and his former deputy, Ms Patricia O'Neill, Presentation Road, Gurranebraher, both of whom have been dismissed from their posts by the branch directors.
They were granted temporary injunctions restraining the branch board from filling or taking any steps to fill their positions until further order by the court.
Dr O'Mahony said Mr Goode and Ms O'Neill, who had headed the branch which had an annual turnover of €150 million, had been dismissed from their jobs on December 17th last after "certain difficulties" had arisen within the branch but nonetheless both had been wronged by the board in a number of respects.
"Minor matters of complaint arose from some members of staff and the defendants have misconceived how the matter should be dealt with, which ultimately led to the termination of their employment," Dr O'Mahony said.
He said there had been a number of grounds in which defective procedures had been adopted by the board. "In particular one very serious cause of grievance is that the branch chairman is Mr Con O'Leary who is legally disqualified from acting as either director or chairman," Dr O'Mahony said.
He exhibited charges and convictions of Mr O'Leary relating to having received quantities of cigarettes and a pair of cuff links knowing them to have been stolen.
Dr O'Mahony said both Mr Goode and Ms O'Neill had sought undertakings from the board that their positions would not be filled until matters had been aired in the High Court but, instead, they had received replies directing them to clear their offices. He said both plaintiffs considered this as a clear indication the board was in the process of replacing them after having deliberately contrived to sack them at a time when the court was not sitting.
Dr O'Mahony said that while there were issues to be properly tried by the court the board had made quantum leaps and assertions in its purported dismissal of the plaintiffs.
Mr Goode, in an affidavit, said that at board meetings he had been subjected to such ferocious verbal abuse that he could be physically ill before attending.He had been given unrealistic work targets and had been intimidated by threats of disciplinary action.
Mr Justice Butler adjourned the case until January 20th and granted the credit union leave to apply to the court in the meantime.