The former chairwoman of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has said her understanding was that the organisation’s chief executive could revert to another role when his term ended.
Prof Frances Lucy, who served on the board of the State agency for 10 years and was appointed chairwoman in May 2022, said this was based on precedent.
Former chief executive Francis O’Donnell is pursuing complaints under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Payment of Wages Act 1997, and the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against the State agency, where he was employed as chief executive from September 2020 to July 2025.
Giving evidence at the Workplace Relations Commission on Monday on his behalf, she said her understanding was that his predecessor had gone back to another role based on an employment entitlement.
Questioned by O’Donnell, who is representing himself, Lucy said: “My understanding is that you took up the [chief executive] role for an initial five-year period. My understanding of normal public sector [practice] is that you might or might not have been going for another five years. Alternatively, you would be reverting to your previous position as a director,” she said.
Adjudication officer Michael McNamee asked how she came by that understanding.
“Based on precedent. I was a member of the founder board [of IFI] and the previous chief executive served two terms. Then, in my absence [from the board for a period before being reappointed] he became director of logistics. ”
Counsel for IFI Tiernan Lowey maintained O’Donnell’s predecessor had had a number of fixed-term contracts which had crystallised into a contract of indefinite duration. He contended O’Donnell’s situation was different.
However, Lucy argued there was also custom and practice. She said in public sector organisations people in their 40s and 50s would not apply for chief executive positions if they could not revert to the substantive posts.
Separately, IFI director of finance Suzanne Campion said she had been informed by the agency’s former head of human resources that O’Donnell, in a car park, had given her a prepared letter to sign setting out that he had a right to revert to a post as a regional director. O’Donnell has denied this claim.
Campion said former IFI head of human resources Roisin Bradley showed her the letter when she stayed with her in January 2023. Campion said Bradley was very disturbed by the letter. She said she didn’t want to sign it and feared for her career. Campion said providing an unsigned letter to Bradley was “inappropriate and unacceptable”.
O’Donnell had previously maintained that details of a protected disclosure containing allegations made against him had been leaked and aired in the Oireachtas.