FG TD’s fiancee fails to get job tribunal references redacted

The fiancee of Fine Gael TD Seán Conlan has failed to secure court orders removing references relating to her in a finding by the Employment Appeals Tribunal that he had breached his former secretary's employment rights.

Sarah Comiskey brought High Court proceedings seeking orders redacting parts of the tribunal's determination, issued last February, including that she and the TD were the cause of work stress of his former secretarial assistant, Cathy Shevlin.

The tribunal found Mr Conlan made a “litany of breaches” of his former secretary’s employments rights and threatened her in a “wholly inappropriate manner”. It ordered the Cavan-Monaghan TD to pay €25,000 to Ms Shevlin, who had brought an unfair dismissal case against him after being dismissed in 2013. He claimed she was dismissed for misconduct.

Arising out of the tribunal’s determination, Ms Comiskey brought judicial review proceedings against the tribunal alleging it had stated in its determination the cause of Ms Shevlin’s work related stress “lay with both Mr Conlan and SC”. She claimed the tribunal did not have jurisdiction to make such a determination and argued she was not a party to the proceedings. She had no notice of the allegation and was not given a chance to reply.

It was also alleged Ms Comiskey was not before the tribunal when it heard Ms Shevlin’s case and was not called to give evidence. It had made a finding of fact that damaged her good name, professional reputation and capacity to practise as a barrister, it was alleged.

Following submissions from Ms Comiskey’s lawyers, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley dismissed the case on grounds Ms Comiskey did not have the necessary legal standing to bring it.