Ex-SFI director Philip Nolan got €200,000 payout in termination settlement

Gordon Deegan

Former Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Prof Philip Nolan, received a payout of €200,000 - plus an additional €275,000 for his legal costs - as part of the settlement of his legal action concerning the termination of his SFI contract in May 2024.

The payout to Prof Nolan - who became a household name during the Covid-19 pandemic when he served as a member of the high-profile National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) - is revealed in Science Foundation Ireland’s financial statements for 2024.

The financial statements show that SFI's own legal bill from Prof Nolan’s severance totalled €367,000, and a €59,000 SFI payout concerning a three-month contractual notice period brings SFI’s total bill to €901,000 before insurance payouts from AIG are taken into account.

The report reveals SFI received contributions from insurer, AIG, under SFI’s Employment Practices Insurance Policy of €200,000 towards the severance payments and €292,000 in respect of its own legal costs.

The payouts drew the attention of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy and in his report accompanying the financial statements, Mr McCarthy states that “the net cost to Science Foundation Ireland arising from the termination of the former Director General’s employment was €409,000”.

On the payout to Prof Nolan, Mr McCarthy states that "Science Foundation Ireland reached a severance agreement with the former Director General which provided for a settlement payment of €200,000 and payment of €275,000 for his legal costs”.

Mr McCarthy further states that Prof Nolan’s employment at SFI ceased on May 27th 2024.

Mr McCarthy states that pursuant to a three-month contractual notice period in the secondment agreement, Maynooth University was paid €59,000 in respect of the former Director General’s remuneration from May 27th 2024 to August 31st 2024.

Prof Nolan took up the prestigious post of Director General at SFI in January 2022 on secondment from Maynooth University, and the annual basic salary for the post in 2022 was €222,000.

Earlier this year, it emerged that Prof Nolan has returned to Maynooth University, where he is researching the medical condition sleep apnoea.

In a statement read out at the Court of Appeal in December 2024, settling Prof Nolan’s legal action, SFI has said its termination of Prof Nolan’s contract was “never intended to imply any finding of wrongdoing on his part”.

In the statement read in the Court of Appeal, the State-funded research agency said the litigation with its former chief has been “damaging to the reputations of all parties” and it is pleased that they have agreed to bring the case to a conclusion.

Prof Nolan sued the foundation in May 2024, seeking to prevent his dismissal.

The High Court granted him a short injunction halting his dismissal from his director general post for five weeks while various court applications were pending. The same judge, Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy, in June refused to substantially extend the injunction.

Counsel for SFI, now called Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland as a result of a merger of SFI and the Irish Research Council, Mark Connaughton SC, told the Court of Appeal in December 2024 that his client regrets the “unauthorised and harmful publication (from unknown sources) of incomplete internal reports”.

This is related to an SFI inquiry into claims made against Prof Nolan, then director general, by five senior staff members in December 2023. Prof Nolan strongly disputed the allegations.

“We confirm that there were no findings of misconduct or poor performance made against Prof Nolan and the termination of his contract was never intended to imply any finding of wrongdoing on his part,” the statement continued.

The "significant reputational damage" to him and the agency flowing from the unauthorised publication of internal reports is "acknowledged", it read.

In an interview with The Irish Times in February this year, Prof Nolan said: “The events of last year have allowed me to return to the very stimulating work of fundamental research."

Prof Nolan also said Maynooth University had been extraordinarily supportive to him.

“I am, as I have said previously, very pleased that the legal proceedings between myself and Science Foundation Ireland (now Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland) have been fully resolved and, in particular, the confirmation that there were no findings of misconduct or poor performance made against me,” he said.

He said: “I am sure I will return to a leadership role in higher education and research in due course, but for now I am focused on building a really good research programme in Maynooth University.”