Pornography 'endemic' in bank, former assistant manager tells appeal

PORNOGRAPHY WAS “endemic” in a Dublin branch of Bank of Ireland between 2002 and 2009, a former assistant manager there has said.

James Reilly was giving evidence at the Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday, on the seventh and final day of hearings into his alleged unfair dismissal from the bank.

He began working at the bank in 2002 and rose to the level of sales manager at the Blanchardstown branch.

He had been tipped for management but was dismissed in August 2009 after an internal investigation found he had received and forwarded explicit emails.

Mr Reilly said there had been a pornographic calendar in the gents toilet since 2002 – which was removed in 2009 – and that emails with “explicit” images were frequently distributed among colleagues. He argued he had not opened some of the emails he forwarded, had not had an opportunity to read the bank’s internet and email code of conduct and he had sent the pornographic images to male colleagues to “mask” his homosexuality.

Mr Reilly agreed he had said at an investigation, conducted by bank official Patrick Lonergan in 2009, that he knew he had breached policy and had said: “I am mortified . . . but I am totally dedicated to my job.”

During questions from Rosemary Mallon, for the bank, he said she had brought his sexuality into the open at the tribunal, which was being covered by national media.

He had been assured of confidentiality by Mr Lonergan and it was on this assurance that he had indicated his sexuality was one of the reasons he forwarded the emails.

“You exposed me to people I didn’t want to know,” he said to Ms Mallon. His elderly parents and extended family had not known of his homosexuality.

Tribunal chairman James Flanagan said Ms Mallon was bringing the issue up again. Mr Reilly had “made it clear” it had been one of the reasons he had behaved as he had in “the laddish culture” of the branch “where a pornographic calendar is hanging in the gents for eight years”.

Among the emails he had opened and forwarded on was one titled “What really happens at Weight Watchers”. The tribunal heard it was a colour picture of three “extremely overweight people having sex”.

He did not find the image offensive and said the three recipients were friends.

“Do you find a colour image of naked people having sex pornographic?” asked Ms Mallon.

He said he did not. “I received it from a line manager. Pornography was endemic in that branch. I sent it to three male friends who did not know my sexual orientation.”

He had admitted it was wrong at the bank’s investigation in 2009. He had not read the bank’s internet policy but, he said, “the policy was not being enforced by management. Senior managers sent me emails.”

In her final submission, Johanna Ronan Mehigan, for Mr Reilly, said he had been “cherry-picked” for dismissal and the “only remedy” suitable was reinstatement.

Former colleagues who had also sent explicit emails remained at the bank and some had been promoted. Many of the offensive emails had originated in Bank of Ireland head office, she said.

Ms Mallon said the bank had no “trust or confidence” in Mr Reilly and reinstatement was “entirely inappropriate”.

A decision will be announced at a future date.