Ms McDonagh, the tribunal heard, was earning just over \u20ac50,000 as a financial controller for the company, having started work for its founder, Jim McCann, at another company of his, Kimble Gaming Ltd, in 2007, and transferring upon its closure in 2023. <\/p>\n
Mr McCann once had interests in 12 different businesses, including amusement arcades, \u201cprivate members\u2019 clubs\u201d, a bingo hall and the Kimble Gaming arcade machine factory in Dundalk, but his family was now left with just two arcades in Dublin \u2013 both in \u201cextreme financial difficulties\u201d, the tribunal was told. <\/p>\n
Ms McDonagh said she was \u201claughed at\u201d by her employer when she asked about her lump sum after being told she was being made redundant in January this year. \u201cHe said no; I would have to claim my redundancy off the State.\u201d <\/p>\n
She told the WRC that despite receiving her redundancy from the Social Protection Fund, her understanding was that the company she was employed by was \u201cdoing well\u201d. <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1754647931518-c07d65db-55b5-463e-ae51-976300c5837e.jpeg\"\/)
Why are apartments in Ireland so much more expensive to build than houses?<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked Jim was he going to liquidate it,\u201d Ms McDonagh said. \u201cWhy should I liquidate when the company is doing well, flying, and making loads of money?\u201d Ms McDonagh said. <\/p>\n
Adjudication officer \u00dana Glazier-Farmer asked Ms McDonagh whether she and \u201canything to support that contention the company was \u2018flying\u2019\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI probably shouldn\u2019t be saying this \u2013 it was a cash business, so it was what they were putting through the banks then. At the time I was there, the company was doing well,\u201d she said. She said she no longer had access to the company\u2019s accounts, but hat it had been \u201cprofitable\u201d when she was there. <\/p>\n
Seoirse McCann, the company\u2019s managing director, told the hearing that his father stepped back from management of the business on health grounds in the summer. <\/p>\n
He said he knew nothing of his father\u2019s alleged comments about the business when they were put to him by his solicitor, Peter Dunlea of Peninsula Business Services. <\/p>\n
\u201cAny truth to the phrase \u2018it\u2019s flying\u2019?\u201d Mr Dunlea asked. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Both companies are in extreme financial difficulties,\u201d the managing director said. <\/p>\n
James P McCann Ireland Ltd had acted as a \u201cmanagement company\u201d, providing accounts, payroll processing and maintenance services to a number of \u201caffiliated\u201d companies, Mr McCann said. <\/p>\n
However, after the closure of a bingo hall in Dundalk last year, the respondent was servicing just two arcades in Dublin, one in Clondalkin, managed directly, and another in Eden Quay, run by another affiliated company, Starville Promotions Ltd, the tribunal was told. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time, Siobh\u00e1n was the only full-time office worker outside day-to-day operations. We felt if we outsourced the work to an external accountant, it would reduce our costs. The saving was significant, it would have saved us around \u20ac30,000 per year,\u201d Mr McCann said. <\/p>\n
Conor McCrave of Setanta Solicitors, for the complainant, said that the company made \u201cno effort to engage\u201d with his client in a formal redundancy process and simply decided to let her go, arguing that rendered it an unfair dismissal. <\/p>\n
Mr Dunlea said it was \u201cnot an unfair dismissal\u201d, arguing there was leeway for a small business in the circumstances. \u201cThe selection for this redundancy is genuine. While we acknowledge the processes followed were not the most robust under law, the case law says it \u2018may\u2019 result in an unfair dismissal.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An accountant let go after nearly 18 years working for a Dundalk arcade and bingo hall operator has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,1962,6465],"class_list":["post-194784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-work","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}