A former governor of Ireland’s highest-security jail has accused the Irish Prison Service (IPS) of a sexist demotion “at the behest” of 14 male prison officers under her command who staged a walkout five years ago.
The incidents that preceded the walkout included a senior gangland criminal being allowed to make a phone call before being transferred and “barrier” handling of a prisoner being withdrawn before he went on to seriously assault a prison officer, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has heard.
A senior civil servant has strongly denied her lawyer’s suggestion that he gave the officers the governor’s head “on a plate” – insisting that he acted “urgently” to “accelerate” existing plans to change the management structure after a series of incidents at Portlaoise Prison leading up to the walkout in May 2018.
Retired governor Ethel Gavin has brought forward complaints alleging gender-based discrimination and victimisation under the Employment Equality Act 1998 to the WRC, which sat at Mullingar Courthouse on Tuesday.
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Ms Gavin claims she was “demoted” from an acting-up position as governor of the campus housing the high-security Portlaoise Prison and the Midlands Prison, losing two grades of seniority to be placed in charge of the Midlands Prison only rather than her original post at Portlaoise.
The IPS, which denies her complaints, maintains the Ms Gavin’s acting-up position as campus governor was only ever “temporary” and that a string of incidents in quick succession at Portlaoise early in 2018 demanded that an existing plan to make the role redundant and bring in a new prison governance structure had to be “expedited”.
The prison service’s then HR chief, Don Culliton, told the tribunal: “Issues [that] had arisen in Portlaoise required a particular response for Portlaoise, but there was no particular reason. She could as easily have been appointed to Portlaoise, but I decided Midlands.”
The witness said the “urgent action” referred to in an email by the complainant’s trade union official was in response to the prison officers’ walkout on May 4th in conjunction with two preceding incidents.
These were that a senior gangland criminal had been allowed to make a phone call to his family before being transferred to another site and, separately, that “barrier” control of a prisoner was withdrawn before he went on to seriously assault a prison officer.
That assault was what prompted the walkout, Mr Culliton said.
In response to questions by John Curran BL, appearing for the complainant instructed by John Breen of PC Moore & Co, Mr Culliton said: “You’re trying to suggest that they sought Ms Gavin’s head on a plate. That’s completely untrue.”
“You’re denying it – nevertheless, they did get Ms Gavin’s head on a plate,” Mr Curran said.
“They got something they never looked for? I don’t know how to answer that question,” Mr Culliton said.
In her own evidence, Ms Gavin said of the action towards the staff who walked out: “These were 14 male officers. They were never reprimanded. An agreement was made with local HR – which undermined me, by the way – that they’d be put on probation for a year, but you can’t be put on probation if you’ve completed it. Many of these staff had 20 years’ service or more,” Ms Gavin said.
Ms Gavin’s position was that she suffered a detriment compared to a male governor who took over from her at Portlaoise, John Farrell, who she said had been consulted in advance of her on the changes by Mr Culliton and given his “pick” of senior staff.
Mr Culliton said Mr Farrell was only consulted a matter of hours in advance of Ms Gavin, and that a senior officer transferred out from under her was making way for another senior officer who could not serve under Mr Farrell at Portlaoise for undisclosed security reasons.
Ms Gavin said the Portlaoise and Midlands governor roles were “absolutely not” coequal, as the Prison Service said, calling Portlaoise “by far the most important prison in the State” and a more “prestigious” posting.
She said she had received a copy of an email circulated by Mr Farrell to Portlaoise Prison staff when he departed as Portlaoise governor stating he was leaving it “in a better position than when he took over” – which her barrister said was a “a very strong suggestion the person before him had not run it correctly”.
The IPS said there was no personal aspect to the restructuring and maintains the WRC lacks jurisdiction to examine the alleged demotion because Ms Gavin only made her complaint 22 months later – and not the six to twelve months required by law.
Aoife McMahon BL, who appeared for the IPS instructed by the Chief State Solicitor’s Office, said the acting-up position as campus governor was only ever “temporary”. Ms Gavin was on notice that her acting-up status could be withdrawn when a management restructuring plan was brought in, she said.
“The process was expedited because of events out of everyone’s control at Portlaoise,” she said.
Ms Gavin’s legal team argued a “regime” of victimisation continued in the Prison Service’s dealings with Ms Gavin up to and beyond her retirement, which brought the entirety of the matter into the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
Her lawyers have challenged the legitimacy of an external investigation into a grievance she lodged against Mr Culliton, stating that their client was denied access to a particular Civil Service grievance procedure, to which the prison service maintains she had no entitlement.
They have also accused the IPS of issuing a “misleading press statement” that was used as the basis of a story in The Irish Times stating that a retirement party had been held for Ms Gavin on March 27th, 2020 in breach of Covid-19 public health restrictions.
They also claim Ms Gavin was victimised by a bullying complaint made against her shortly before she retired by the official in charge of her grievance against Mr Culliton, Edel Higgins.
An investigator made a finding of “inappropriate behaviour” on two of nine elements, but these did not meet a threshold to be considered bullying, the tribunal was told.
Ms Higgins said she “got clarification” in that investigation that she “didn’t treat Governor Gavin differently as a result of her gender”.
Adjudicating officer Andrew Heavey said it would take a number of months to prepare his decision in the matter and closed the hearing.