Kilkenny group family dispute comes before court

A bitter dispute between a son and his mother concerning ownership of the Kilkenny group of luxury design retail stores, employing 300 people, has come before the Commercial Court.

Greg O’Gorman claims, after 13 years’ service and “no suggestion of misconduct or non-performance on my part”, his mother Marian, chief executive of the company running the Kilkenny stores, “summarily terminated” his employment as group marketing director last July in a “demeaning and humiliating” manner.

This left him, his wife, and three children, “financially destitute” and he has been unable to get alternative employment, he said.