Board says it had no choice but to fire ‘whistleblower’

The head of the National Education Welfare Board says the organisation had no choice but to dismiss a senior employee.

The employee had contacted TDs to raise concerns about the organisation and failed to reassure the board he would not do so again.

Pat MacSitric, the NEWB’s interim chief executive, said the board had decided to dismiss John Flanagan on grounds of “gross misconduct” in Nov 2010 because “such emails were highly inappropriate”.