A top Garda made a dramatic late hour intervention in an industrial tribunal to deny a claim made by a former senior PSNI officer who is accusing the force and senior officers of sex discrimination.
Assistant Commissioner John Roberts, formerly of the PSNI, was alleged to have told ex-Chief Superintendent Emma Bond that a decision over her transfer was decided prior to a panel meeting to discuss the move.
But Mr Robert, in testimony on Thursday, denied he made those comments to Ms Bond several weeks after the transfer panel meeting, He told the tribunal he only heard of her claim on Wednesday after staff flagged up an article in the Irish News.
Ms Bond claims she was transferred from her post as commander in Derry City and Strabane District in retaliation for raising and pushing her concerns over officers staying home during the early days of the pandemic. There were also allegations linked to overtime and mileage payments.
She was handed a gross misconduct notice over her delivering a “rollicking” to dozens of officers at two meetings after hearing of some staying at home without approval. None of the "stay at home" faced action beyond a short preliminary investigation, an industrial tribunal has heard.
Ms Bond is claiming sex discrimination and breaches of whistleblower, or protected disclosure, rights.
In her statements, Ms Bond claimed Mr Roberts, then acting Assistant Chief Constable, told her that a decision over her transfer to the police training college in September 2020 was made prior to the panel meeting and that the Chief Constable Simon Byrne and Deputy Chief Constable Mark Hamilton would bring that proposal to the meeting, Ms Bond said.
In testimony at the industrial tribunal hearing, Mr Roberts said: “That’s inaccurate.” He did agree the two most senior PSNI officers made the final decisions on transfers.
Ms Bond further cited the claimed comments by Mr Roberts, along with other information, when she alleged the decision to transfer was “pre-determined”. Mr Roberts said the decision was not pre-determined
Neil Phillips, counsel for Ms Bond, questioned the one time acting ACC over the reason why details of the conversation, which the witness agreed took place, was not recorded in his day journal.
The witness said it was an informal first meeting between Ms Bond and himself as her line manager. He only made entries in the day journal if he felt they would be needed for evidential purposes or to rely on in the future for some other reason.
"You did not think you would be sitting here?" Mr Phillips quipped. "That's correct," the witness replied.
Ms Bond did write a note of the conversation in her journal following the early October 2020 meeting, the tribunal heard.
PSNI counsel Aidan Sands successfully argued for the late introduction of Mr Roberts as a witness. He only heard about the claims made by Ms Sands on Wednesday, the tribunal heard.
His staff brought attention to the article in the Irish News detailing Ms Bond's claim on the decision being made prior to the meeting. The assistant commissioner contacted the PSNI legal services and he was asked to make a statement. He then made the journey north to give testimony.
The hearing continues.
