A COMPANY whose chairman, Donal Kinsella, was awarded a record €10 million damages for libel, is being sued by one of its accounting employees over alleged wrongful dismissal and harassment.

Deborah Murray claims she was dismissed because she questioned certain transactions for the firm’s managing director, Dearbhla Kinsella.

These transactions included the alleged use of €3,000 in company funds towards Ms Kinsella’s wedding reception and £15,000stg (€17,900) paid to Donal Kinsella’s legal advisers in his dispute with mining company, Kenmare Resources.

That dispute with Kenmare led to Mr Kinsella being awarded €10 million damages for libel by a High Court jury in November 2010.

The award was the highest ever for libel and arose out of a Kenmare press release relating to an incident during a company trip to Mozambique in 2007 when Mr Kinsella (69), a former deputy chairman of Kenmare, was sleep-walking naked and appeared naked at the door of a woman colleague.

The High Court heard yesterday Mr Kinsella was also chairman of Trimproof Ltd, Trim, Co Meath, and controlled the company with his daughter Dearbhla, its managing director, and his son Dan, a management employee.

The business, which supplies industrial upholstery and vinyl fabrics, is facing a bullying and harassment action by accountant Deborah Murray, who claims she was unlawfully dismissed.

Ms Murray, Castlerickard, Longwood, Co Meath, is seeking a declaration that the purported decision by Trimproof to dismiss her on October 28th, 2008, was perverse, discriminatory, unfair and motivated by malice.

She is also seeking a declaration that she was constructively dismissed, as well as damages for breach of contract.

Trimproof denies the claims.

Yesterday, Mr Justice John Hedigan granted Ms Murray orders requiring Trimproof to disclose to her a number of documents she sought from the company for her case.

Trimproof had argued that much of the material sought was not relevant and claimed Ms Murray’s lawyers were on a “fishing expedition”.

Seán O’Siothcháin, counsel for Ms Murray, said her case was that she was dismissed because she had professional misgivings about, and had queried the provenance and propriety of, certain payments and events.

These included expressing concern to Ms Kinsella on October 3rd, 2007, that her brother Dan’s pay structure would attract tax liability by way of benefit-in-kind.

Ms Murray claims she was asked on October 9th, 2007, for a company cheque made payable to the Nuremore Hotel, which, she later discovered, was where Ms Kinsella was to have her wedding reception.

She claims the payment was for that function.

On December 3rd, 2007, Ms Murray claims she queried with Ms Kinsella a cheque for £15,000, drawn in favour of her father’s legal advisers in connection with his dispute with Kenmare Resources. Ms Murray claims she was told by her superior there was no invoice and she was to post it on the books to purchase of shares.

It was also claimed that, on June 13th, 2008, Ms Kinsella emailed Ms Murray instructing her to lodge €5,000 against the company credit card bill with a company cheque when, Ms Murray claims, the bank overdraft limit of €190,000 had been reached.

As a result, a payment to a key supplier had to be cancelled, Ms Murray claims.

Following these and other matters, Ms Murray claims she was shunned and treated with suspicion by management.

When Ms Kinsella returned after her honeymoon, Ms Murray says she was summoned to a meeting with Ms Kinsella and “upbraided and verbally attacked” over the credit card matter and accused of breach of confidence.

Ms Murray claims this conduct was such as to victimise, harass and/ or bully her because she was performing her duties in the best interests of the company.