The Irish Blood Transfusion Service was ordered by the High Court today not to appoint any person other than Mr Martin Hynes to the position of its chief executive officer or to act as such an officer.
The Board was also ordered not to continue the suspension of Mr Hynes, imposed last Sunday, or to undertake any hearing of complaints made by the Board's chairman in a letter to Mr Hynes on June 18th last.
Mr Hynes alleged his suspension was unfair and unlawful and that there was "bad faith" by the IBTS Chairman, Mr Michael McLoone.
He alleged Mr McLoone had deliberately not informed the Board on June 20th last of a request from the Minister for Health, made on June 19th last, to bring to the Board's attention matters relating to the notification of certain donors and former donors to the IBTS, notwithstanding the relevance of the Minister's request to Mr Hynes's own decision requesting the Regional Director of the IBTS to take administrative leave.
The temporary injunctions, returnable to Monday next, were granted by Mr Justice Smyth to Mr Brian O'Moore SC, for Mr Hynes (58), of Pebble Hill, Maynooth, Co Kildare, who was appointed CEO of the IBTS on July 1st 1998.
In an affidavit, Mr Hynes said the immediate circumstances which gave rise to his application for the injunctions arose last Friday when he received a letter from the acting chairman of the IBTS saying he would be suspended on full pay from Sunday last until July 10th when the next Board meeting of the IBTS would be held.
At that meeting, the Board expected to be able to deal with all matters raising out of complaints against him which were being formulated by Mr McLoone.
Mr Hynes said his suspension was "entirely without justification" and in clear contravention of his contract of employment. If the suspension was not lifted, he would suffer irrevocable damage to his reputation and employment prospects and his career with the IBTS would be irretrievably damaged.
The suspension which the IBTS was attempting to foist onto him did not relate to any disciplinary matter but concerned general allegations about his overall performance in relation to implementing the organisational development programme for the IBTS, he said. Even if his performance in that regard was not satisfactory, which he strenuously disputed, there was absolutely no justification for suspending him in order to enable a review to take place.
Mr Hynes noted the IBTS had been subject to very significant public scrutiny since 1994. A re-organisation plan was approved in April 1996. Since then other significant changes included the establishment of the Lindsay Tribunal (which has yet to report). There had been considerable controversy about a perceived lack of cohesion at Board level and the previous Board chairman had resigned in August 2001 opver a significant row at Board level over the proposed transfer of blood testing from Cork to Dublin and the handling of other issues.
The tensions in the IBTS and the ongoing problems being experienced predated his appointment and were of long-standing duration, he added. Among the significant challenges facing the IBTS since his appointment included a significant shortage of blood, the implementation of the Finlay Report recommendations and preparation for and participation in the Lindsay Tribunal.
Since his appointment, he believed significant confidence in the IBTS had been largely restored through a policy of open and transparent communication with staff, the public and those with an interest in the IBTS. Considerable improvements had been made. Blood supplies were now adequate and the IBTS now operated the safest testing and processing procedures in the world.
Mr Hynes added there were ongoing organisational issues being addressed and he was fully committed to implementing those changes.
He said a very important specific issue arose recently. This involved a decision, with the full agreement of the Board, to contact a number of former donors about a highly sensitive and important matter. The importance of communicating with those donors had been agreed with the Department of Health and Children, Transfusion Positive, Positive Action and the Board by the National Medical Director, Dr William Murphy.
He said Dr Murphy had contacted the Regional Director of the IBTS seeking the addresses of the former donors. The Regional Director had said she would not make the addresses available to Dr Murphy but would give the information to the Board Chairman.
Mr Hynes said he discussed this matter with Mr McLoone. On June 6th last, Mr Hynes said he told the regional director she should give the information to Dr Murphy. She had refused and Mr Hynes asked her to take administrative leave. Dr Murphy later went to Cork on June 10th 2002 and got the information required.
Mr Hynes said it was very regrettable that he had to take the course of action set out and it was not done lightly. As CEO, he did not believe that the ongoing process to improve working relationships in the IBTS could override the importance of dealing with a hugely sensitive and important matter on its individual merits.
On June 12th, Mr McLoone had concluded in a report that there was a failure to address, manage and lead the process of organisation change receommended in the reports done for the IBTS and it was clear the Chairman blamed this "so-called failure" on Mr Hynes. Mr Hynes said he had no opportunity to respond to "an unsubtle attempt to attack my performance". After the report was given to the Board, he was asked to leave the Board meeting. The Board had effectively decided he was wrong to place the Regional Director on administrative leave.
After a further Board meeting to which he was not invited, he was told by the Chairman that he was recommending Mr Hynes be suspended. Mr Hynes said he believed there was "bad faith" by Mr McLoone in relation to the matter and that the Chairman had deliberately not told the other Board members on June 20th last of a request of June 19th from the Minister for Health to bring to the Board's attention on June 20th the issue relating to the notification of certain donors and former donors to the IBTS.
