Space commentator David Moore has been held personally liable for multiple employment rights breaches against a former manager at Astronomy Ireland who said she was forced to quit due to a "toxic" work environment and alleged "serious financial irregularities".
The astronomy club and four members of its management committee, including Mr Moore, have been ordered to pay nearly €11,000 to the ex-employee, Sonya Martin, after she complained of constructive dismissal to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
It follows a series of four hearings strung out over nearly 11 months before the employment tribunal.
The case saw Mr Moore - well-known for his media appearances on astronomy and space exploration - object repeatedly to being attached to the claim, allege that Astronomy Ireland was "libelled", and, finally, stand up and walk out of a hearing with his solicitor.
The WRC heard Ms Martin was first hired by Astronomy Ireland as an administrator in 2021, promoted to manager in March 2022, and resigned in July 2023 following a long-term absence due to workplace stress, citing a "toxic work environment".
"The whole situation has broken my heart and left me with the realisation that I can never return without further sacrificing my health and moral integrity," she told her employer in a letter of resignation.
Ms Martin went out sick due to workplace stress following what she termed a "heated" meeting in December 2022, when she said she was "horrified" to be told by Mr Moore that the club had no board.
Alan Crann BL, appearing instructed by Daniel O'Connell of Kean's solicitors, said their client felt she had been made "party to a fraud on the State" by Astronomy Ireland, as she had made applications for public grant money on the basis that it was governed by a board of directors.
Ms Martin said she was already suffering from workplace stress following months of pressure while she worked two jobs in the wake of the sacking of a junior employee who was alleged to have stolen cash and left "faecal matter" and "ejaculate" behind in a bathroom at Astronomy Ireland's offices.
After pressure from the committee about the amount of cash in the society’s bank accounts, a junior administrator, Nicole Doyle, raised concerns that Mr Moore was in the practice of "pocketing" speaking fees which were meant to be the society's main revenue stream, Ms Martin said.
Legal submissions from the complainant stated that the workplace environment at Astronomy Ireland became "very disruptive and tense" after Ms Doyle identified "serious financial irregularities".
"They'd been nitpicking at me for months. It's no way to treat staff. They'd bullied and harassed me for months on end," Ms Martin said.
Mr Moore claimed last year that the society had been "libelled" before the Workplace Relations Commission, branding accusations of money going astray and financial irregularities as "false".
Legal submissions made on behalf of Astronomy Ireland stated that it was an "exemplary employer" which rejected strongly the allegations of bullying and harassment.
The tribunal’s taking of evidence on the case stalled in June 2024 after Mr Moore, who appeared at that stage as a lay litigant, told WRC adjudicator Jim Dolan that Astronomy Ireland's status was "iffy in law" as "an unincorporated society, to the best of my knowledge".
Mr Dolan said at that point that he would have to consider whether "every single" subscribing member of Astronomy Ireland was answerable for the statutory claims.
As the hearings continued into 2025, Mr Moore made repeated objections to being attached personally to the claim, and told Mr Dolan he had not received hearing notifications.
"Emails are unreliable," he said. When Ms Martin's solicitor, Mr O’Connell said the notification was sent by post too, Mr Moore said: "The post is unreliable."
Mr Dolan decided to attach as respondents to the statutory complaints all four members of a management committee identified by Mr Moore. They include the club's treasurer, Seamus Bonner, Mr Moore himself, and two club officers, Willie McDonagh and a woman who cannot be named by direction of the WRC.
Mr Moore appeared with a solicitor, Eugene Smartt, at a fourth hearing in May this year, and again renewed his objections to being attached. Mr Smartt argued Ms Martin was out of time to pursue the management committee.
"I don't think my client should be punished for the fact that Astronomy Ireland haven't got their house in order," Mr O’Connell said.
Mr Dolan said: "Mr Moore is sitting there telling us he doesn't recognise he's the respondent in this. He signed the sign-in sheet 20 minutes ago: 'David Moore, position: respondent.'"
"I'm the respondent for Astronomy Ireland, it's not for me personally", he said.
"I’m not adjourning," Mr Dolan told him.
After further exchanges, Mr Moore and Mr Smartt got up and left the hearing room with their things, and Mr Dolan concluded the case.
In a decision issued this week, the adjudicator upheld all but one of Ms Martin's complaints.
He awarded four weeks' wages in compensation, €3,076.92, for constructive dismissal in breach of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 on the basis that there was "no mention of any steps to mitigate loss" on the part of Ms Martin.
He has awarded a further €7,707 for the employer's failure to pay Ms Martin for statutory sick leave, annual leave and public holidays, and the failure to provide her with a written statement of her terms of employment.
Astronomy Ireland, David Moore, Willie McDonagh, Seamus Bonner and the fourth management committee member have been directed to pay total compensation of €10,784.60 to Ms Martin within 42 days.
'Party to a fraud on the State'
During the June 2024 hearing, Ms Martin gave evidence that Astronomy Ireland's office landlord approached her complaining about having to clean up after the junior administrator, Mr G, who was later dismissed.
"The final straw for the landlord was that he had to clean ejaculate from the bathroom after Mr G was in there," Ms Martin added.
She said she was left working late and at weekends to cover Mr G's duties from July 2022 to June 2023, when Ms Doyle was hired.
After a "tirade" of complaints from a member of the management committee that there "wasn’t enough money in the account" after a "successful" fundraiser, a newly-hired administrator, Nicole Doyle, identified an issue with the collection of speaking fees that were meant to be the "main revenue stream" for the society, Ms Martin said.
"David was taking the money and pocketing it as his own income, as opposed to it going back into the society," Ms Martin said. "The attitude changed towards myself and Ms Doyle after that," Ms Martin said.
Ms Martin said that things became "very heated" when she brought up Ms Doyle's financial concerns with Mr Moore at an annual review meeting in December 2022 at a hotel restaurant in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15.
"I've 30 years’ volunteering, I've donated a million euro of my own money to this organisation - this nearly made me resign," she quoted Mr Moore as saying at this meeting.
Ms Martin said that when she asked Mr Moore about the status of the club's board, Mr Moore replied: "There is no board. There is David Moore, and his advisors."
Ms Martin said she was "horrified", because she had applied for State grants on behalf of Astronomy Ireland which required the governance of a board of directors. She said she replied: "This is fraud, we have to have a board."
Mr Moore's reply to her was: "That’s slander," she said.
"It was very heated. I stood up, I was trembling, I said I’m going to leave," she said.
Barrister Alan Crann BL, who appeared for Ms Martin at that hearing said that his client "felt at that stage she had been party to a fraud on the state."
Mr Moore said the club was registered as an employer with the Revenue Commissioners and said the taxing authority was "quite happy" with the arrangement.
He told the tribunal that when the organisation got a "big grant" from the former State training agency FÁS in the 1990s the agency had told them their arrangements were "fine".
"So, it's legal enough for half a million pounds worth of public money," Mr Moore said.
"There's no money going astray, no financial irregularities," Mr Moore stated at end of the June hearing. "We’ve been libelled, in my opinion," Mr Moore added.
In a legal submission, Astronomy Ireland said it had filled "hundreds of full- and part-time posts" since 1990 and had been subject to "no complaints in all those decades in the WRC".
"We treat staff with great respect and go above and beyond legislation (sic) requirements. We believe our standards should be held up in public as a way to treat employees," it added.
In early 2024, Ms Doyle, the junior administrator who worked with Ms Martin, was awarded €2,153.88 by the WRC for three breaches of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 after Astronomy Ireland failed to attend a hearing into her complaints.
