Undisclosed settlement terms in an action between the professor of German at UCC and the college authorities were handed in to Mr Justice Smyth in the High Court yesterday and the proceedings were struck out by agreement. The case had been listed to last three weeks. Professor Mary Howard, North Mall, Cork, was appointed professor of German in UCC in July, 1993 and was later made head of the department for a period of at least five years, a position which carries no extra emolument.
In July 2000, she obtained an injunction restraining the college from removing her as department head and from appointing anyone else to that position pending the full hearing of the proceedings. At the time it was stated that her position as professor of German was unaffected by the university's plan to rotate the departmental head position in accordance with practice elsewhere in the college. After discussions between lawyers for the parties on Tuesday, the judge was told a settlement had been reached.