Dental chief sacked ‘after unauthorised pay rise’

AN Employment Appeals Tribunal has heard that the former secretary-general of the Irish Dental Association, Donal Atkins, was sacked from his €140,000-a-year post last year after he awarded himself an unauthorised pay rise.

Mr Atkins, 63, is seeking compensation by taking a case of unfair dismissal against the association’s decision to terminate his contract after 26 years of service with the organisation.

The inquiry was told that Mr Atkins was dismissed with immediate effect on September 3, 2005, after the dental association’s council found him guilty by a 18-4 vote of serious misconduct and committing a fundamental breach of trust.

Although at one stage there was a total of 113 allegations against Mr Atkins, they were eventually reduced to 11.

The tribunal was told that the former official had also concealed from the association’s council and executive the fact that the professional body for dentists was being sued for €38,000 by a health website for using its material without authorisation.

Lawyers for the association claimed Mr Atkins had also instructed other staff not to inform any of the council officers about the legal action being taken against the organisation by the website irishhealth.com.

The association’s former honorary secretary, Roger Grufferty, gave evidence that the organisation’s treasurer had expressed concern to him in November 2004 that Mr Atkins had awarded himself a salary increase in excess of recommended levels.

It later emerged that Mr Atkins had awarded himself a 16.7% pay rise, and other staff a 10.4% increase in 2004, even though only a 5% increase had been sanctioned. His salary rose from €119,000 to €139,000 that year.

On May 6, 2005, Mr Atkins was asked to take “garden leave” for the next two working days after a meeting in which Dr Grufferty said he was given “evasive answers” by Mr Atkins.

The tribunal also heard that Mr Atkins admitted trying to get into the association’s offices at around midnight on a Sunday but found the alarm code on the building had been changed.

However, Mr Atkins’s barrister, Aidan Redmond, claimed the actions of the dental body had left no doubt that his client’s departure from the organisation was desired. He refuted any suggestion that Mr Atkins had agreed to step aside from his position and insisted that he had been suspended as a result of a “witch hunt”.

Mr Redmond complained the disciplinary procedures were “fundamentally flawed”.

“The decision had been made that come hell or high water, Mr Atkins is going,” he remarked.

The tribunal was adjourned until November 16.