Credit union boss sacked from €110k job after three months was 'not a whistleblower'

SHANE BISSETT’S €110,000 position as chief executive officer of one of Ireland’s largest credit unions lasted only three months and ended in legal proceedings which he later abandoned, a court heard today.

Bissett, of Killeen Court, Malahide, County Dublin, returned to the Circuit Civil Court today in an unsuccessful bid to win legal costs for a threatened injunction application he withdrew earlier this year.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane heard that in November last he made certain alleged ‘protected disclosures’ to the board of Core Credit Union Limited, South Dublin, concerning “serious wrongdoing” in its operations.

The judge said Bissett’s allegations had been refuted in a very comprehensive sworn affidavit.

Bissett alleged that there had been “a material misstatement of the financial affairs” of Core involving an alleged €500,000 overvaluation of its Shankill, County Dublin premises.

He also claimed beaches of the  Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act and credit union regulations.

Bissett said his protected disclosures had been made to the Central Bank on 20 November, 2016.

He claimed that three days earlier, immediately after making a disclosure to the bank but prior to a scheduled Central Bank inspection, his employment was summarily terminated.

Not a whistleblower

However Core chairman Martin Whelan told the court that Bissett was not a whistleblower under the Protected Disclosures Act and it was categorically denied that he had ever made any protected disclosures to the credit union’s board.

Barrister Mairead McKenna, for Core, told the court that Bissett had been let go in accordance with the terms of his contract of employment. The original application by Bissett had been factually unsustainable and it was for that reason he had withdrawn it.

She said there was no basis for Bissett’s initial application for injunctive relief and he was not entitled to any legal costs. McKenna applied for and obtained an award of costs to Core against Bissett.

Whelan said Bissett’s employment was not and could not have been terminated by reference to any alleged protected disclosures given that no such disclosures had ever been made by him.

He said the decision not to specify reasons for the termination was entirely in accordance with his contract of employment and applicable legal principles.

Whelan said that communications Bissett had with the Central Bank were “entirely self-serving and an attempt to retro fit his case retrospectively under the provisions of the Protected Disclosures Act.”

Core had been legally advised to terminate his employment without any expression of fault.

Whelan said staff had concerns about his management style and Core had been faced with the prospect of losing much of its management team if the CEO remained. Following discussions with staff, he concluded Bissett was not a fit for Core’s business.

‘Most bizarre’

Judge Linnane said Bissett, in withdrawing his legal proceedings, had accepted in an affidavit that there was no realistic prospect of being granted injunctive relief against Core.

She said he had conceded he was not in a position to challenge Core’s statements that there were reasons for the termination which pre-dated and were unrelated to his complaints regarding alleged corporate wrongdoing by the defendant.

McKenna said Bissett’s application for his costs of proceedings he had withdrawn was “most bizarre.” He had decided not to run his application but in essence had run it before the court today.

Judge Linnane said she did not see any reason or circumstance to depart from the normal rule of costs following the event. Bissett was not entitled to costs but the other side, Core, was.

Core Credit Union Limited is a co-operative serving more than 30,000 members in Dalkey, Sallynoggin, Glenageary, Dunlaoghaire, Glasthule, Ballybrack and Shankill, and managing assets of €90 million.