Courts

Garda superintendent branded ‘arrogant’ over handling of fitness-to-work meeting with injured sergeant, WRC told

Sgt David Haughney claims he was prevented from continuing his work following medical leave after suffering an eye injury while on duty

Sgt David Haughney at the Workplace Relations Commission for the hearing of his complaint against An Garda Síochána. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Stephen Bourke
Fri Jan 6 2023 - 17:35

A retired garda inspector says his former commanding officer was “arrogant” and “very confrontational” in a meeting with a sergeant previously injured in the line of duty when they met to discuss return-to-work arrangements after an operation.

The retired officer was giving evidence on Friday to the Workplace Relations Commission in Sergeant David Haughney’s complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 against An Garda Siochána – which he has accused of discrimination on the grounds of disability.

Sergeant Haughney received a permanent eye injury in a December 2014 assault leaving him with 70% vision loss on one side.

He claims he was prevented from continuing his work as a senior instructor in use-of-force techniques and public order command advisor – which he said he had continued after recovering from the assault – following medical leave for treatment of a detached retina in his injured eye in 2019.

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Sgt Haughney contends that although he suffered no further loss of vision, his superintendent at Midleton in Co Cork departed from a “precedent” set by three predecessors and took a restrictive view of medical advice stating he was to engage only in “strictly non-confrontational duties”.

Retired inspector Joe O’Connor, Sgt Haughney’s line officer in roads policing at Midleton, said he went to the return-to-work meeting at the request of Supt Adrian Gamble on 1 October 2019, having already started work again.

“The atmosphere in the room was hostile. We went in – I thought it was going to get very confrontational; [there was] hostility, unfriendliness,” he said.

“On whose part?” asked Sgt Haughney’s solicitor Michael Hegarty.

“On the part of the superintendent,” Mr O'Connor said.

Mr O'Connor said the superintendent had challenged Sgt Haughney on his recent attendance as a tactical advisor to the commander in charge of a security operation for the visit of former US vice president Mike Pence to Co Clare in late 2019.

The witness added that the superintendent had been “arrogant, trying to interrupt Sgt Haughney”.

The witness continued to state that, going forward, Sgt Haughney “couldn’t go out in the car, couldn’t supervise anyone” and was limited to working at the station in the traffic office.

Cross-questioning the witness, counsel for An Garda Siochána, Declan Harmon BL, put it to him that Superintendent Gamble “has quite a different recollection of that meeting” and that he would say in his evidence that it had been “businesslike and professional”.

“I came up here and swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What I’ve said is the truth,” he said.

Sgt Haughney’s evidence had been that he was limited to those duties for some 11 months before taking stress leave.

“Dave became extremely distressed, his confidence was shattered – it was like his soul was destroyed over a few weeks,” Sgt Haughney’s partner, fellow officer Sgt Denise Coleman, told the tribunal in evidence.

The tribunal also heard evidence on Friday from Superintendent John Deasy, the public order co-ordinator for the southern region, who said he had urged the force to create a role to use Sgt Haughney’s skill-set in a new training office.

The respondent case opened with the evidence of the Garda chief medical officer, Dr Richard Quigley, and the tribunal also heard from Garda Karl Burton, the national public order trainer based at Templemore college.

Dr Quigley said the occupational health department could give medical guidance, but it was a matter for local garda leadership to assess the risk.

He said the advice from his office when the sergeant returned to work in December 2015, was that he “should not undertake” duties with a risk of physical confrontation – advice the adjudicator, Mr Dolan, noted was “very similar” to the later advice.

“It would be hard to negate the risk,” Garda Burton told the tribunal. “It would be hard to separate the confrontational side of the job we do. You’d have to isolate that, greatly reduce the amount of work a person would do in that role… The trainer is there for what-ifs… they may be asked to step in [as instructor] to take up one of the confrontational roles,” he added.

The case was adjourned to the next available date, yet to be fixed by the WRC, when Superintendent Gamble is expected to give his evidence.

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