‘Taggart is dangerous’ says board member
High Court documents seen by the Irish Examiner reveal Danny Reilly, who remains a member of the seven-man board, asked the court to prevent Mr Taggart from promoting his own candidate as chief executive of Bord na gCon. Mr Taggart was seeking to overrule the majority decision of a committee which had interviewed candidates for the chief executive’s job.
In an affidavit sworn in the case, and seen by the Irish Examiner, Mr Reilly warns the High Court: “I am further concerned that unless restrained by order of this honourable court, Mr Taggart will continue to behave in what I regard as a dangerous manner with potentially adverse effect for the reputation of the board and more importantly, on the board’s ability to carry out its statutory mandate.”
The affidavit also alleges Mr Taggart bullied Mr Reilly over the issue.
Mr Taggart wanted final interviews for Bord na gCon’s top job ‘rerun’ after his choice, the current head of regulation and secretary of the drugs control committee, Daniel O’Leary, failed to get nominated as chief executive.
Mr Taggart, asked for the ‘re-run’ to enable his man get in some ‘homework’ on a number of issues.
The High Court documents reveal Mr Taggart was waging a huge battle to push his own man into the job. A three-person committee comprising Paschal Taggart, Danny Reilly and Susan McGrath, a civil servant from the Department of Sport and a specialist in human resources, was delegated to interview candidates and select one.
When Mr Taggart’s choice lost out two to one, Mr Taggart took a course of action which led to Mr Reilly taking High Court proceedings in which Mr Taggart and Bord na gCon were the named defendants.
As Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte last night called for a clearing out of the board, its increasingly embattled chairman yesterday denied he ever bullied anyone.
Mr Taggart told the Irish Examiner: “I have never, in my opinion, bullied anybody.”
