The US was immune from prosecution of claims under Irish employment laws in the Irish courts because of its status as a sovereign state, a judge held yesterday. Judge Liam Devally said in the Circuit Civil Court he had no jurisdiction to try an action against the US by a former employee of the US embassy for a claim for £26,600 allegedly due under a promised severance payment when he resigned in 1997.
Mr Gerard Branagan, Butterfield Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin, a former supply supervisor at the embassy, claimed the money was due under an assurance given to him in 1995 by the deputy chief of mission. The embassy claimed sovereign immunity and denied having made any promise, representation or warranty of the type alleged by Mr Branagan.