St Patrick's may not sack chief officer

An interim order restraining the removal of Bernard O'Byrne from his position as chief executive of St Patrick's Athletic Football…

An interim order restraining the removal of Bernard O'Byrne from his position as chief executive of St Patrick's Athletic Football Club has been granted by the High Court.

Mr O'Byrne, former chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, was induced by directors of St Patrick's to take up the position of chief executive of the club last April and was given a two-year contract.

His counsel Roddy Horan said yesterday that the contract provided in clear terms that it could be terminated only for gross misconduct or by mutual consent. While St Pat's has "not been doing particularly well", that did not reflect in any adverse way on Mr O'Byrne's stewardship of the club, Mr Horan said.

On November 15th last, two directors of the club told Mr O'Byrne they had made a mistake in recruiting him and they needed a hands-on commercial manager "to bang on doors and get money". On November 23rd, Mr O'Byrne was offered a small amount as compensation, Mr Horan said. Two days later, he was told there would be no improvement on that amount.

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At a meeting on November 29th, the board reaffirmed its position towards Mr O'Byrne.

Mr Horan said solicitors had written last week to all the club directors asking them to provide written undertakings by December 1st not to terminate Mr O'Byrne's employment. These had not been provided. In those circumstances, proceedings were initiated in which Mr O'Byrne was seeking an order restraining the termination of his employment and the continuing payment of his salary.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke granted an interim order restraining Mr O'Byrne's removal and returned the matter to Thursday.