A senior Unite officer has labelled claims that he and the union's general secretary were involved in a plan to oust Brendan Ogle as "preposterous" and accused the longstanding official and his "close comrade" of giving evidence which was "not credible".
"This has been represented as a plan that I'm involved in to get rid of someone. I'm not involved in a plan in concert with the general secretary to get rid of [Mr Ogle]," witness Tom Fitzgerald told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
The tribunal was hearing evidence in Mr Ogle's disability discrimination complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 for a sixth day.
Mr Ogle has accused the trade union of a failure to provide reasonable accommodation, victimisation and harassment following his return to work after treatment for a "very aggressive" throat cancer.
Tom Fitzgerald, who gave his evidence in chief today, had been promoted to regional co-ordinating officer at Unite's Dublin office during Mr Ogle's sick leave, a grade equivalent to the complainant, the WRC was told.
Earlier in the proceedings, Mr Ogle had described a meeting with Mr Fitzgerald on August 22, 2022 during which he alleged his colleague had informed him that the union's new general secretary Sharon Graham wanted a new strategy for Ireland drawn up and that she had made a "directive" that Mr Ogle wasn't to be in it.
"I didn't say that. I absolutely didn't say that. I've wracked my brains trying to think why Brendan would say that - I can't understand that," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"Sharon Graham never said that to me, and I've never said it to Brendan. It would just be illogical to say: 'I've had a conversation with the general secretary; I've been told to cut you out, and start writing it on the board. It's not credible," he said.
Mr Ogle had described Mr Fitzgerald drawing on a whiteboard in his office as he did so – a depiction likened by counsel for Unite Mark Harty SC to a "Bond villain" laying out a plan.
Mr Ogle's evidence was that he believed Mr Fitzgerald had been given a wide discretion by the general secretary - but said it came as the "gravest disappointment" that his colleague was allegedly seeing to it that he was "written out" of the union's plans for the Republic of Ireland.
Mr Fitzgerald said he had told Mr Ogle during that meeting that his own mother was being treated for cancer. He added: "The one thing I didn’t say - my father passed away from throat cancer in his late 50s."
"The suggestion that I’m going to have this conversation and then do someone in - I will be doing something about that, it's vexatious," he said.
"You don't just start writing on a board with a colleague and indulge yourself, this was a collaborative process," he said.
He said although Mr Ogle had asked him at the end of the meeting if he could photograph the whiteboard, other photos of the display produced by the complainant's lawyers were "covert photos that I didn't give my consent to".
"Brendan said: "Can I take a snap of that?." I was concerned. Clearly I had good reason to be concerned. Why would a colleague take a photo of something," Mr Fitzgerald said.
He said Mr Ogle’s next comment was: "Thanks, that'll be helpful."
Another witness called by Mr Ogle's lawyers earlier this year, Junior Coss, secretary of the Unite branch in ESB Energy, said he met Mr Fitzgerald on August 25 that year and saw the whiteboard with the drawings still on it - and asked where Mr Ogle was on the plan.
"He [Mr Fitzgerald] said as far as he was concerned he [Mr Ogle] wasn't part of the strategy going forward and that he would be retiring over time," Mr Coss said.
Mr Fitzgerald said Mr Coss was a "close comrade" of Mr Ogle's who would "go to the wall for him" and said the witness's account of the alleged meeting was "not credible". He added that he had been unable to find any record of it in his diary or in his electronic calendar.
After Mr Ogle’s allegations of being frozen out entered the public domain following a Facebook post by his wife in September 2022 and allegedly defamatory remarks about him were made to a union conference the following month, he lodged a formal grievance.
The tribunal heard details of correspondence which passed between the two men in the spring of 2023 concerning a variety of issues, including concerns about the handling of a ballot for industrial action, exchanges about the storage of bicycles and the use of a first aid room in Unite's Dublin office, and a press release.
Mr Ogle stated in the emails that Mr Fitzgerald was "seeking to try to do my job" in connection with these issues and had "inserted himself", which the witness denied by reply.
"The attempted removal of my job for having had cancer is subject to a formal grievance. I ask you to desist from attempting to take my job in that context," Mr Ogle wrote.
In the quoted correspondence, Mr Fitzgerald wrote: "I utterly reject any insinuation that I have any involvement in attempting to remove you from your job," calling Mr Ogle’s assertions "offensive, underhanded and absurd".
Mr Fitzgerald also referred to a further allegation that he had assumed Mr Ogle's political role by briefing the general secretary, Ms Graham on Irish industrial relations legislation at a meeting in Belfast in May 2023, a matter Mr Ogle had also referred to the grievance officer.
Mr Ogle wrote at the time that neither Ms Graham nor the regional secretary, Jackie Pollock, "expressed any concern", which he suggested was with the "apparent assent of senior managers".
Mr Fitzgerald told Mr Ogle: "You had ample opportunity to speak yourself and chose not to do so" - calling it "disappointing and frankly underhanded" that Mr Ogle had written to an appointed grievance officer making the allegations.
"The only thing to say is what I’ve set out in the correspondence. It's obvious to me what’s happening now," Mr Fitzgerald told the hearing.
The matter has been adjourned to Wednesday morning, when Mr Fitzgerald will be cross-examined.
