CITY TRIBUNE
NUIG academic’s court action over ‘sabotage’ claims
A senior academic at the National University of Ireland Galway has brought a High Court challenge over what he says is a flawed investigation into claims he tried to ‘sabotage’ a colleague’s career.
The action has been brought by Heinz Peter Nasheuer who is a Professor of Biochemistry at the university.
Prof Nasheuer is one of nine individuals who are the subjects of complaints of alleged bullying made by a colleague at NUIG. He categorically denies the allegations – which date back several years – against him.
Arising from the complaints, the Labour Court appointed former trade unionist Janet Hughes to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations.
However Prof Nasheuer says the investigation is flawed and should not be allowed continue, on grounds including that Ms Hughes had previously represented the complainant in an unrelated matter during the 1990s.
In proceedings that commenced before the High Court on Tuesday, Prof Nasheuer seeks various injunctions against NUIG including one halting the investigation on the grounds that it is oppressive and unreasonable.
He seeks to have the injunctions kept in place until the case has been fully determined by the High Court.
NUIG, represented by John O’Donnell SC, opposes the application, and rejects claims that the process is flawed or that it should be halted. It says that the process is an investigation only and is not a disciplinary hearing.
Mr O Donnell said it could well be the case that nothing adverse to the Professor will come out of the process.
Counsel said NUIG also denies the investigation has in any way breached Prof Nasheuer’s rights including his rights to fair procedures.
Mark Connaughton SC, appearing with Mairead McKenna BL for Prof Nasheuer, told the court his client had worked with NUIG since 2003 and was “completely shocked” when the allegations were first put to him by the university.
The bullying allegations, which counsel said are all denied, are quite serious. The complainant’s counsel had accused his client of trying “to sabotage” that person’s career.
Ms Hughes’ counsel said she had represented the complainant in her capacity as a trade union official during the 1990s.
Counsel said during the course of the investigation, his client discovered Ms Hughes had disclosed this fact to the complainant, the Labour Court and to NUIG, but had failed to do so to his client until after the process had begun.
He said that another reason why the investigation is flawed was that Ms Hughes had consulted with the complainant and NUIG, but not with the Professor and his advisers, about the terms of reference of the investigation into the allegations.
And he added said these matters had led to fears that the investigation was biased against Professor Nasheuer.
Counsel also said that a further complaint was that his client at one stage of the process was wrongly accused of not co-operating with the process. This was not the case and the Professor had co-operated, he added.
Counsel said that arising out of these concerns they had asked that the investigation be halted.
The failure to do so resulted in the Professor bringing proceedings before the High Court.
The hearing before Mr Justice Marie Baker has been adjourned, and will recommence later this month.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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