Doctor sues university saying: I’m not a bully
‘Defamed’ Limerick GP vindicated by HEA report
A DOCTOR is suing the University of Limerick for defamation and personal damages after it accused him of bullying a colleague and then offered him a €209,600 confidential settlement.
Dr Niall Cahill, a former medical director of the Student Health Centre at UL from 2000 to 2015, has told the Irish Mail on Sunday that he believes ‘a grave injustice’ was perpetrated against him ‘through the abuse of power, privilege and position’ in UL.
He has now written to the new UL president, Dr Des Fitzgerald, advising him of the imminent High Court proceedings to be issued against the university.
Dr Cahill said: ‘I have always said that I was wronged, injured and defamed by the actions of certain officers of the University of Limerick and I have no choice now but to initiate High Court proceedings.’
In 2015, the Limerick city GP received a severance of €185,000, plus his legal costs of €24,600, and a letter of reference from the university, after a finding of ‘serious’ bullying and ‘vexatious’ complaints was made against him by a UL-appointed investigator.
However, Dr Cahill believes he has been vindicated by a new Higher Education Authority (HEA) report into allegations of misconduct in UL. He is now the fourth person documented in that investigation to take High Court proceedings against UL, including two whistleblowers in the finance department who remain suspended on full pay for two and a half years.
The report, led by Dr Richard Thorn, former president of Sligo Institute of Technology, states that in Dr Cahill’s case ‘it is difficult to believe that findings of “serious” bullying and “vexatious” complaints could, in isolation, constitute gross misconduct. It appears that it is the conflation of the two findings that is used to justify a view that they reach the threshold for investigation of gross misconduct.’
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil deputy Willie O’Dea is urging UL to issue an apology to a lecturer whom it accused, without proper evidence, of inappropriate behaviour towards students.
The lecturer – who is referred to as ‘Person E’ – worked in UL since the late 1990s. A severance payment of €150,000 to this lecturer will also be probed in a third UL investigation led by the HEA.
This investigation will centre on severance payments amounting to €1.7m to eight UL staff, which were not sanctioned by the Department of Education.
In correspondence to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee this March, former UL president Professor Don Barry stated that the lecturer was accused of
‘I have always said that I was wronged’ ‘It’s extremely hard to move on in life’
inappropriate behaviour towards students, ‘causing them to feel uncomfortable’.
However, Dr Thorn’s report found that Prof. Barry’s statement ‘did not properly describe the circumstances of the case’, particularly as UL’s own investigation did not obtain any evidence of inappropriate behaviour.
One of the remarks which caused offence was a famous phrase by Winston Churchill, while the other offending remark was a reference to the book Fifty Shades Of Grey.
Speaking for the first time about this case, ‘Person E’ told the MoS: ‘For me, there is not a day, hardly an hour, that goes by without being affected by what happened. It was unbelievable and surreal.
‘It’s extremely hard to move on in life without a conclusion to this. It remains an awful accusation to be held under and continues to affect my personal and professional life adversely.’