Dromoland Castle worker takes court action to prevent dismissal

The financial manager of the five star Dromoland Castle hotel has initiated a High Court action aimed at preventing her dismissal.

Orla Horgan claims in a sworn statement she is being made "a scapegoat for fraud at the hotel" due to alleged suspicious transactions carried out by another employee in the finance department.

She had nothing to do with the alleged transactions, she said.

Ms Horgan, Station Road, Askeaton, Co Limerick, said she was informed last month that she is to be dismissed from her position on July 1st.

She is seeking an injunction preventing her employer, Dromoland Castle Holdings Ltd, terminating her employment as finance manager.

Oisin Quinn SC, for Ms Horgan, said the purported termination of Ms Horgan’s employment is unlawful and her employer is not entitled to proceed in this way.

Ms Horgan feared the decision to dismiss her could do irreparable harm to her reputation, he said.

Since 2006, Ms Horgan has had responsibility for the accounting functions at Dromoland Castle, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, and fulfils a similar role in relation to The Inn at Dromoland hotel, the court heard. She previously worked on accounts at Castlemartyr Resort Hotel.

At the High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan granted Mr Quinn's ex- parte application (one side only represented) for permission to serve short notice on the defendant of the injunction application and returned the matter to next week.