The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

APRIL 1977

this Circular, the Manager submitted particulars to the Department of all applicants. The Department then "short listed" those applicants in alphabetical order, and, provided that the Manager subsequently decided to appoint one of those short listed, the sanction of the Minister to such an appointment was automatic. On 3 June 1974, Canon Ahern interviewed the plaintiff for the post. He informed him that he was the next candidate on the list. Canon Ahern then offered the post to the plaintiff, provided he could take up his appointment on 1 July 1974. The plaintiff accepted these terms, and Canon Ahern wrote a confirmatory letter of appointment. One of the unsuccessful candi- dates for the post was Mr. Denis Lynch who was an assistant teacher at the school. Mr. Lynch was informed of this by Canon Ahern, and he informed the Treasurer of the Cork City Branch, Mr. O'Shea, that he had been unsuccessful, and that the plaintiff was not a member of the I.N.T.O. Mr. O'Shea advised Mr. Lynch to inform Canon Ahern of this, which he did on 6 July. Canon Ahern then sent for the plaintiff, and informed him of the position, but did not suggest he was cancelling the appointment. The plaintiff then visited one of the defendants, Mr. Motherway, who was the secretary of the local Branch of the I.N.T.O., and gave a brief resume of his dispute with the I.N.T.O. in 1972 which had led to his resignation, but now asked to be re-instated. On the morning of 6 June, there had been a meeting of the Cork City Branch of the I.N.T.O. The Chairman, Mr. Hurley, had telephoned the General Secretary of the I.N.T.O., Senator Brosnahan, to enquire whether the Department of Education had sanctioned plaintiff's appointment as Principal of Ovens School and Senator Brosnahan was informed by the Department that no appointment had as yet been made. It was then decided that Mr. Hurley and Mr. Motherway should make representa- tions to Canon Ahern. As Canon Ahern was about 75 years of age, it was finally decided that the Chairman (Mr. Hurley), the Vice-Chairman, Mr. Garvey, and the Treasurer, Mr. O'Shea, would visit him. When the visit took place, they informed Canon Ahern of their dis- satisfaction with his decision to appoint the plaintiff as Principal

Canon Ahern with the plaintiff. In all the circumstances, Canon Ahern must have taken upon himself the implied obligation of seeking in a genuine and bona fide way the approval of the Bishop and of the Minister. The President, on the basis of the judgment of Walsh J., delivering the Supreme Court judgment in Meskell v. CJ£., (1973) I.R. 121, is quite satisfied that the defendants were guilty of an actionable conspiracy in this case. It is clear that agreement by two or more persons to prevent the promotion of a National Teacher as part of a campaign to ensure that he and all National Teachers in the area must be members of a trade union is to seek to coerce or penalise that person into waiving his consti- tutional right to dissociate, and as such is an actionable conspiracy. These defendants are thus liable to the plaintiff for conspiracy as well as breach of contract. As regards damages from Canon Ahern, the plaintiff is entitled to the damage and loss suffered as a result of the natural and probable conse- quences of the breach by the defendant, i.e. the services of the plaintiff as Principal for the school year, 1974-75, and the difference of salary between a Principal of a school and a Vice-Principal, which amounts to £376.24. The conspiracy proved against the defendant officials was not only proved in respect of 1974 but continued right into 1975. They are, therefore, liable for all the miscell- aneous expenses which the plaintiff and his family incurred in trans- ferring to Bray, and which amount to a total of £1,562.55. Accordingly, judgment will be given against all the defendants including the Canon, jointly in the sum of £376.24 previously mentioned, and a separate judgment jointly and severally in the sum of £1,562.55 against the officials of the Cork City Branch of the I.N.T.O. defendants in this action. The real and effective cause of the breach of contract by Canon Ahern was the action of the four other defendants in furtherance of their actionable conspiracy against the plaintiff. There will accordingly be an order of contribution, by which these four defendants will have to re- imburse Canon Ahern in full. Cotter v. Canon Ahern, Hurley, Garvey, O'Shea and Motherway — Finlay P. — unreported — 25 February 1977. 7

of Ovens Schoo l. On being requested to furnish the information whether he had obtained the approval of the Bishop of Cork to this appoint- ment, Canon Ahern replied that he had not yet sought for this approval. The delegation then intimated that they were prepared to discuss the a p p o i n t me nt wi th the Bishop of Cork, and Canon Ahern then expressed the view that the appointment might be cancelled. He followed this up, by writing a letter to the plaintiff on 6 June, cancelling the appointment he had made on 4 June. Canon Ahern intimated to the delegation that he would appoint Mr. Lynch as Principal, and asked them to insert an advertisement in the Cork Examiner for an assistant teacher in the school. The plaintiff was then able to persuade the Manager of New Inn school to retain him as Vice-Principal. In May 1975, the plaintiff applied for many posts as Principal in the Cork area and was nearly appointed Principal of St Peter and Paul's School, Cork, but the Manager, having consulted the local officials of the I.N.T.O., who were opposed to his appointment, declined to appoint him. In the end, the plaintiff eventually applied for, and accepted the post of Principal of one of the National Schools in Bray, Co. Wicklow. The President is satisfied that the local officials in Cork of the I.N.T.O. tried to ensure as far as possible that all national teachers in the area should be members of the I.N.T.O., a duly registered trade union. The officials went so far as to circulate at the back of their balance sheet every year a list of teachers in the Cork City area, who were not members of the organisation, and, from 1974, this list included the plaintiff. The visit of the officials to Canon Ahern on 6 June was to use the most powerful pressure to prevent the ap- pointment of the plaintiff as Principal, solely due to the fact that he was not a member. There was an undoubted oral agreement, supplemented by a collateral letter on 4 June, that Canon Ahern would appoint the plaintiff Principal of Ovens School from 1 July 1974. By not seeking the sanction either of the Bishop or of the Department of Education, Canon Ahern had clearly committed a breach of contract with the plaintiff. The President is also satisfied that the other defendants, the officials of the Cork City Branch of the I.N.T.O., induced the breach of contract by