Fás settles case with former safety chief
Last month, Mr Craig, who the court heard was fired by Fás following the findings of an internal report, obtained orders from the High Court preventing the state training agency from taking any further steps from dismissing him.
Mr Craig, who claimed he was being made a scapegoat, also secured orders preventing Fás from making any disparaging comments to the media about him. Fás denied any wrongdoing.
Yesterday, Mr Justice John MacMenamin was informed that what would have been a “lengthy, costly and complex” action had been resolved, on terms including an apology from Fás to Mr Craig in respect of adverse findings made in a report commissioned by the agency, and that Mr Craig acknowledges that his employment with Fás has terminated. Afterwards, Mr Craig said the settlement had come as a relief to him.
Mr Craig, a former director of corporate affairs at Fás, will receive €75,000 as an ex gratia payment for the termination of his employment, €35,000 in respect of annual leave and €15,000 as general damages. He will also receive a contribution of €50,000 toward his legal costs. The settlement was made without admission of liability by Fás.
Boam Murray SC, for Fás, said as part of the settlement Mr Craig acknowledged his employment with Fás ended on September 5 last.
Fás also apologised to Mr Craig in respect of adverse findings made in an independent report conducted by the consultancy firm Mazars, which investigated grievances raised by Mr Craig concerning his employment.
The parties have both agreed to waive confidentiality and give consent to Mazars to allow a report to be released containing information they have relating to Fás to satisfy any queries made by the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee.
Mr Craig, of Greenlea Grove, Terenure, Dublin, brought High Court proceedings against Fás after he was informed in early September that he was being dismissed following an internal investigation.
The court heard Mr Craig locked himself in his office on September 5 to study an internal report by Ignatious Lynam when Fás assistant director Conor Dunne pushed in the door and told him he was firing him with immediate effect.
Dunne had said he had studied the Lynam report and that it had established serious breaches of procedure, that he was going to fire him and ordered him to leave the premises and hand in his keys. The court heard Mr Craig was shocked by what had happened.
Shortly afterward, his lawyers obtained a High Court injunction from Mr Justice Paul Gilligan restraining Fás from taking any steps to further implement the purported dismissal and a further injunction restraining the agency from making, communicating or publishing any adverse or disparaging statements concerning him.
His lawyers claimed that he had been made a scapegoat and was continually being offered up to the media.
Mr Craig also claimed the state agency sought to avoid a commitment made previously to apologise to him and to pay him compensation for damage caused to him.
Speaking outside court yesterday, he said to take on a big state organisation with the matters he had to take on was a source of personal concern to him and to his family.
He said the most important thing was that Fás had acknowledged its wrongdoing as outlined in the Mazars report and apologised publicly in court. He said that was “very significant to him” and it was “very important” to him that the contents of the Mazars report were put into the public domain and that those responsible for the wrongdoing were “dealt with as soon as possible”.
He rejected any suggestion that he had done anything wrong, and said the Lynam report commissioned by Fás was flawed.
Fás said the resolution of the matters, without the need for further High Court proceedings, “brings further substantial closure to many of the outstanding legacy issues which Fás has confronted in recent years”.
