This article is from page 4 of the 2014-06-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
A CLARE TD has recalled the day he had to “bite the bullet” and let go a childhood friend from his job as parliamentary assistant.
Michael McNamara told an employment appeals tribunal in Ennis on Thursday that he decided to dismiss Conor Daly after a second period of probation ended in March 2012.
Mr McNamara said he made the decision because he was unhappy with Mr Daly’s performance in some aspects of the job.
He said he received complaints that constituent’s queries were not being treated sympathetically.
Mr McNamara said he also received complaints from Government departments about the manner in which Mr Daly made queries.
Mr Daly, who previously worked as a golf caddy in Doonbeg Golf Club, claims he was unfairly dismissed from the job. The tribunal heard Mr Daly was an on annual salary of approximately € 40,000.
The tribunal heard Mr Daly worked as a driver for Mr McNamara in the general election before being hired as a parliamentary assistant for the Labour deputy.
Mr McNamara said he extended Mr Daly’s initial period of probation for six months in 2011 because he was unhappy with his performance.
Mr McNamara said he advised Mr Daly to take constituent’s queries more seriously and be “clear and concise” when requesting information from government departments.
The tribunal heard the men have been friends since childhood in Scariff and Tuamgraney.
“I wanted to believe he could improve,” he said.
But Mr McNamara said he realised in March 2012 that he had to “bite the bullet” and let Mr Daly go.
He described the meeting with Mr Daly as “very hard”. He said he had never let anyone go from a job before.
Mr McNamara said Mr Daly started crying after being told he would not keep his job beyond the period of probation.
“He was emotional. He really needed the job,” he added.
Solicitor for Mr Daly, Kate McInerney, said that her client will say in evidence he did not get any clear guidance from the TD and was not given an opportunity to improve. She said the decision to dismiss Mr Daly was “disproportionate”.
Mr McNamara said, “I made it clear to Conor that he had to improve and he failed to do so.”
The hearing was adjourned to September 18 when Mr Daly will give evidence.