IPAS security guard unfairly dismissed after disclosing safety concerns, WRC finds

A SECURITY GUARD who raised safety and compliance concerns at an International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centre has been awarded €15,200 after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found he was unfairly dismissed and penalised for making protected disclosures.

Christopher McDonagh was dismissed by You’re Secure Solutions Limited on 15 April 2025, after nearly two years with the company.

The company said he was sacked for gross misconduct, including allegedly entering the apartment of a female resident at the Ballisodare IPAS centre alone and without a body camera.

However, WRC adjudication officer Breiffni O’Neill found there was no investigation, no disciplinary hearing and no opportunity for Mr McDonagh to answer the allegations before his dismissal.

The decision said the employer produced no witness statement, CCTV, incident report or body-camera log to support the allegation. The managing director’s evidence was hearsay, as he had not witnessed the alleged incident.

Mr McDonagh denied entering any apartment after a 28 March instruction that staff should not do so without a body camera. He said he had previously entered residents’ apartments alone as part of his ordinary work.

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The WRC found You’re Secure Solutions had failed to establish that the alleged misconduct occurred, or that it had reasonable grounds to believe it had occurred. Mr McDonagh had made complaints between September 2024 and March 2025 concerning security cover, fire-safety obligations and garda vetting at the IPAS centre.

The adjudication officer found those reports were protected disclosures, saying they contained information tending to show possible breaches of legal obligations and matters affecting people’s health and safety.

Mr O’Neill said management had become “deeply frustrated” with the frequency of Mr McDonagh’s complaints and may have considered him a “nuisance” or “serial complainer”.

However, he said the Protected Disclosures Act protects qualifying reports regardless of whether an employer finds an employee’s concerns convenient.

The WRC found the protected disclosures were the principal reason, or among the principal reasons, for Mr McDonagh’s dismissal. It also held that the dismissal amounted to penalisation for raising health-and-safety issues.

Mr McDonagh was awarded €14,000 for the dismissal. The adjudication officer reduced his calculated loss by 50% because he applied for only six security jobs and two caretaker roles during 38 weeks out of work. However, he said the company’s “entirely unreasonable” summary dismissal without fair process also had to be taken into account.

Mr McDonagh was separately awarded €500 for working six Sundays without additional compensation and €700 after the company failed to give him written notice of changed terms when he was reassigned to Ballisodare. A number of his other complaints were outside the legal time limit, while several were withdrawn.