THE CHIEF executive of a radio station advertising sales company has secured a High Court injunction preventing his dismissal pending the full hearing of his legal challenge to that decision.

Granting the order yesterday, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said John O’Connor, Ballycrane, Castlepark Road, Dalkey, Dublin, had made out a strong case that he had been denied fair procedures by his employer in the handling of his dismissal as chief executive of Independent Radio Sales Ireland Ltd (IRS).

Mr O’Connor alleges he was denied fair procedures when the board of IRS, whose chairman is former agriculture minister Ivan Yates, gave him a letter saying he was guilty of misconduct in relation to the early part-payment of a €165,000 annual bonus for 2009.

While the company had last September initiated a review of salaries for senior staff including Mr O’Connor, this review had stalled by the time the board held a meeting with Mr O’Connor where he was first told of the allegations of misconduct over the bonus payment, the judge said.

On that basis, and also on grounds any subsequent order of damages in his favour was unlikely to be an adequate remedy for Mr O’Connor, the judge granted the injunction restraining his dismissal pending the full action.

The judge said an acting chief executive, Dan Healy, could continue in Mr O’Connor’s place pending that hearing.

The judge adjourned the matter until tomorrow after Marcus Dowling, for IRS, said the board was preparing to initiate a new disciplinary procedure which would be in compliance with natural justice.

The board was also prepared to make concessions which might mean the matter will not have to go to a full hearing, Mr Dowling added.

Mr O’Connor has been chief executive of IRS since 1998 and was also chief executive of a linked company, INN, a news-gathering service for local radio stations which went into voluntary liquidation this month.

He is on a salary of €112,000 per year with IRS, 20 per cent of which came from INN.

The court previously heard Mr O’Connor arranged for part of his €165,000 bonus for 2009 to be paid early so as to avoid it being subject to the Government levy.

Mr O’Connor denied that payment was unauthorised and said his bonus had been paid for years on the basis of a “mathematical triggering” mechanism related to advertising sales and agreed with a previous chairman of the board.

The first knowledge he had of the allegations against him occurred on October 7th last when he went to a meeting with the board chaired by Mr Yates which was called to discuss the demise of INN, he said. He was “harangued without restraint” by members of the board and had to excuse himself to avoid the situation deteriorating, he added.

Two days later, the letter accusing him of misconduct was read out to him at a meeting between him, Mr Yates, and the company’s chief financial officer, the court heard.