AN UNFAIR dismissals case taken by businessmen Simon and Christian Stokes began at the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Dublin yesterday.

The Stokes brothers, who formerly owned Residence, an exclusive private members club on St Stephen’s Green, have taken the action against its current owners, Molana Ltd, a company controlled by businesswoman Olivia Gaynor Long.

Residence opened in the summer of 2008 to much hype following a €3 million investment in the St Stephen’s Green property. However, the Stokes brothers lost control of the business after Missford Ltd, the holding company for Residence, ran up debts of about €4 million. Ms Gaynor Long took over the club in July 2010 through Molana and the brothers signed a 12-month contract with that company.

Paul Fogarty, for Molana, told the tribunal his clients regarded the contract as a consultancy agreement. Under this, the brothers were to be paid €1,000 plus €50 a week expenses. It operated from July 20th and came to an end on September 17th, 2010, he said.

But solicitor for the Stokes, Domhnall McKevitt, said his clients had been employees of Missford since June 2008 and subsequently employees of Molana.

Asked by tribunal chairwoman Fiona Crawford about the estimated value of the claim, Mr McKevitt said his clients were “extremely reluctant” to give figures given the coverage in the media on previous occasions.

He also expressed concern that Ms Gaynor Long was not present for the opening of the case.

Mr Fogarty said Ms Gaynor Long was now based in California, but could be available to give evidence.

After preliminary discussion, the case was adjourned to May, when the tribunal is expected to sit for two days.