Council whistleblower loses WRC bid

A council whistleblower who claims he was effectively demoted for claiming the local authority made “disguised payments” to a failed sports project has lost his case at the Workplace Relations Commission.

The decision, published this week, does not name either the official or the council, nor does it identify the sports project or those involved other than noting that the sports project achieved success “at national level in 2009”.

The case was brought by a man described as a “senior and longstanding official” who represented the council in question on the board of directors of a limited company that operated “a high profile sporting project in the area” between 2007 and 2011.