A lecturer in German at University College Cork was granted a temporary order by the High Court yesterday restraining the college from having her application for a statutory lectureship assessed by a selection committee which includes Prof Mary Howard.
Ms Manfred Schewe, of O'Rahilly Buildings, UCC, also got an interim order preventing the college dealing with her application for the post other than in accordance with the rules of natural and constitutional justice.
If Prof Howard formed part of the selection committee, Ms Schewe said she believed her entitlement to natural and constitutional justice and, in particular, her entitlement to have her application dealt with without bias, would be breached.
In an affidavit, Ms Schewe said her application to the court was based on her apprehension of bias regarding the manner in which a presentation she had been asked to give on Monday next, and an interview she had been asked to attend on Tuesday, would be conducted, and the manner in which the selection committee, headed by Prof Howard, might assess her application.
Her apprehension was also based on difficult relations which had existed within the German department of UCC for many years between Prof Howard and a number of other department members. Tensions within the department were exacerbated recently by Prof Howard bringing proceedings against UCC in the context of which, Ms Schewe understood, Prof Howard had made a number of allegations against members of the department, including, Ms Schewe believed, herself.
Ms Schewe added that she had the full support of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, which had represented her interests until solicitors had had to be introduced. The IFUT had also been representing a number of her colleagues in the German department who also had had problems with Prof Howard. Her request that the selection committee should not include Prof Howard had been rejected.
Mr Justice Smyth granted the interim orders sought and returned the matter to Monday.