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An Irish dancing adjudicator, who is one of several people suspended over claims that competitions were “fixed”, says the investigation into the allegations against her is flawed and should be halted.
Amanda Hennigan, who also runs an Irish dancing school in Hertfordshire in the UK, has brought High Court proceedings against the body that regulates Irish dancing, An Coimisiun Le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG).
She is one of several individuals involved in the adjudication of Irish dancing contests who have been suspended over allegations of gross misconduct that competitions in Ireland, the UK and the US, were fixed in favour of certain competitors.
She denies any wrongdoing and claims the CLRG’s investigation into the complaints against her has been flawed and prejudged from the start.
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In her proceedings against the CLRG, she seeks various orders including one halting the disciplinary proceedings against her and an injunction lifting her suspension from adjudicating. She wants these orders to remain in place until her action has been fully resolved.
Her application is believed to be the first of several similar actions being contemplated by people who are currently suspended by the CLRG.
Earlier this year, Ms Hennigan was suspended by the CLRG arising out of the publication of a series of documents allegedly containing complaints that had been made to the CLRG.
Those documents were published online by an unnamed person, it is claimed.
The allegations are now the subject of an investigation being conducted by a retired senior judge Michael Peart.
At Dublin’s High Court, her counsel Gerard Meehan SC, with Michael O’Doherty, instructed by solicitor Niall Colgan, said his client makes no complaint against Mr Peart but is critical of the CLRG’s handling of the matter.
She claims the CLRG decision to investigate and suspend her is flawed on several grounds including that it decided to investigate the complaints without interviewing her and without providing her with any of the details about the specific allegations against her.
She also claims the material published online, including the documents outlining the complaints against her and others, was defamatory of her, and the CLRG should have taken steps to have it taken down.
Its failure to take any steps over the material that identified her as a subject of an official complaint is prohibited in the CLRG’s own procedures.
She was not provided with a copy of the CLRG’s own investigation report, she also claims.
She also claims that the CLRG has not properly taken the motivation of the person who has made the complaint against her or the others into account.
She claims the CLRG is aware of the identities of the people against whom complaints were made. Despite that awareness, it failed to contact her about the complaints for some months, she alleges.
This she says was in breach of its own disciplinary procedures and breaches her right to fair procedures and natural justice.
She claims her only income is from Irish dancing and since being notified of her suspension she has been contacted by the parents of dancers who she fears may move to another school.
As things stand, she claims, she is not able to adjudicate at her own dance school’s feis, which is due to take place next month.
She alleges the allegations have resulted in “a presumption of guilt” over her, which has damaged her health and her relationship with other family members involved in her school.
The matter came before Mr Justice Brian O’Moore, who gave her permission to give the CLRG short notice of the injunction proceedings. The application came ex parte, meaning only the plaintiff was notified.
The case will return to court in January.