A legal dispute between the Irish Music Rights Organisation (Imro) and its chief executive over his dismissal for alleged gross misconduct has been settled.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton was told yesterday that the proceedings brought by Adrian Gaffney against Imro, which were due to go to full hearing yesterday morning, had been resolved. The judge agreed to adjourn the matter for mention later this month solely for the purposes of allowing for the implementation of the settlement, details of which were not disclosed.
Last July, in a decision on injunction proceedings brought by Mr Gaffney in which he sought to be permitted to continue in his position pending the full hearing, Mr Justice Thomas Smyth directed that Mr Gaffney should continue to be paid but should not resume his duties with the organisation pending the outcome of that full hearing. There was "a very finely balanced dispute" between the sides, the judge said.
During the injunction hearing, the judge was told that Mr Gaffney was first employed by Imro in 1995 and became chief executive in 2000. Imro employed 30 people and had 5,000 members.
On June 29th last, Mr Gaffney was purportedly dismissed from his position following a hearing of an Imro board disciplinary committee.
Mr Gaffney strongly rejected all the grounds for his dismissal, which arose from a number of allegations concerning his business expenses, allegations of misleading the board in relation to a salary advance to an executive, and an alleged failure to bring a Pricewaterhouse report to the attention of the board.
The court was also told that, for some seven months prior to his dismissal, Mr Gaffney had been complaining that there was a concerted effort to remove him from his position.
