The Labour Relations Agency was formally called in last night to settle the "internal management-employee problem" which has seen the Children's Hospice administrative director, Mr Tom Hill, on enforced "sick leave" since October.
To his supporters, hospice volunteers and parents of terminally ill children, Mr Hill is one of the charity's greatest assets. A tireless fundraiser over the past 10 years, he has been in charge of a multimillion-pound fundraising drive to set up the North's first Children's Hospice, in Newtownabbey, on the outskirts of north Belfast. It is due to open later this year.
Mr Hill's suspension only became public knowledge three weeks ago when a volunteer rang the hospice's administration to inquire about the administrative director's health.
Since then parents and local newspapers have been mounting a campaign to get him reinstated. Volunteers have threatened to boycott fundraising activities and a Belfast Ulster Unionist councillor, Mr Jim Rodgers, called for the resignation of the entire management council as the "only honourable course of action".
On the surface, the original charges levelled at Mr Hill appeared to be of little substance. There were no allegations of financial impropriety. Instead, he stood accused of a breach of confidentiality after allegedly discussing a possible donation to the Children's Hospice with his wife, also a prominent figure in the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice campaign.
His "demeanour" towards council members and an alleged failure to inform them of the terms relating to a donation that he was negotiating with McDonald's also came in for criticism.
Off the record, however, hospice members speak of a "clash of personalities" between Mr Hill and council member Mr Brian Adgey. Over the past 18 months, Mr Hill has lodged two official complaints of bullying and harassment with the council.
According to the council, however, the complaints were dismissed following an independent inquiry with Mr Hill refusing any offer of external mediation following the case. Mr Hill has disputed the independence of the inquiry, saying he had not been given proper access to normal hospice complaints procedures.
Yesterday Mr Hill was due to appear before a disciplinary panel which, contrary to original guarantees that it was to be independent, would have consisted of council chairman Mr Sean McComiskey and two other council members.
Two of the original charges appear to have been dropped, leaving Mr Hill to face questions on the McDonald's donation, as well as two new accusations - one of not properly informing the board of conditions attached to a National Lottery grant and one of failing to co-operate with his co-directors in relation to a meeting on administrative management.
Mr Hill's union representative, Mr Joe Bowers, from the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union, said in his 30 years as a union official he had never come across a more "ludicrous" case.
With only two working days' notice to prepare his case, he had advised Mr Hill not to appear before the panel and had requested the Labour Relations Agency's involvement instead, Mr Bowers said. A senior council source said it was sad that the needs of terminally ill patients had been "eclipsed by internal employment matters". Mr Hill's case would be "settled in line with the appropriate procedures". Allegations of personality clashes were "totally unfounded and unjustified", he told The Irish Times.
Members have requested an extraordinary general meeting to be held in the next few weeks for the council to clarify the issues surrounding Mr Hill's suspension.
His supporters have also been unhappy with the council's decision to appoint its own legal adviser as an "independent" investigator of Mr Hill's case.
The founder of the Children's Hospice movement, Sister Frances Ritchie, said it was "amazing that an organisation can just decide to move the goalposts like that".
"Tom Hill has my 100 per cent support as a man of the highest integrity. I am very concerned that with every day that this unjust dispute continues, we are losing support for the Children's Hospice. Hospices are not just made of bricks and mortar. They rely on the trust and confidence of parents and volunteers, something Tom has always had 100 per cent."