A FORMER post office clerk who was convicted of membership of an illegal organisation in 1974 claimed in the High Court yesterday that termination of his employment was unconstitutional. Ms Justice Carroll said she would give her decision later.
Mr Michael McDowell SC claimed his client, Mr Anthony McDonnell, a butcher, of Gibbstown, Navan, Co Meath, was an established civil servant and could only be removed from office by the Government. He laid the Government had never considered Mr McDonnell's case.
Mr McDonnell, who is suing the State and An Post for damages and loss of wages, said in evidence that following his release he wrote to the post master in Navan (where he had been employed) seeking reinstatement.
The reply stated that under Section 34 of the Offences Against the State Act he had forfeited his position in the public service as a result of his conviction in the Special Criminal Court. He also claimed he applied to An Post following its formation in 1984 but was told An Post had no obligation to re employ him.
In cross examination, Mr McDonnell agreed he thought he had paid his debt to society, having been in prison for nine months.
Asked why, in 1975, when he wrote the letter he did not consult a lawyer, Mr McDonnell said he had not the resources. He agreed he consulted a solicitor following a 1991 Supreme Court decision declaring Section 34 to be unconstitutional.
Mr McDowell said the Statute of Limitations (that a case must be brought within six years) did not apply because Mr McDonnell remained an established civil servant whose office had never been validly terminated. Since 1974 his status as a civil servant had been ignored but not extinguished.
Mr McDowell said his client was entitled to a declaration which bound the State and it must either treat him as an established civil servant or an employee of An Post.
The State in its defence denied Mr McDonnell's claim.
Mr Gerard Lee SC, for An Post, claimed the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs was required to apply Section 34 unless and until it was declared invalid.
All the initiatives in this case were carried out by the State. It was often thought An Post was the successor to the Department of Posts and Telegraphs but that Department was subsumed into the Department of Communications.