Former kitman takes unfair dismissal case against Dundalk FC
Darragh Mc Donagh
Dundalk FC’s former kitman is taking a case for unfair dismissal against the financially troubled League of Ireland club.
Noel Walsh had worked for Dundalk since 2012 and was described as “the staple of the everyday and often the voice of reason” by the club’s head of football operations last year.
After his employment ended in 2024, he filed separate complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) alleging unfair dismissal and lodging a claim for redundancy.
An adjudication hearing of the WRC was on Thursday heard that Dundalk FC had offered to pay Mr Walsh redundancy of €6,500 but would be unable to provide this in a lump sum due to its financial issues.
Instead, the club offered to make 10 payments of €600 over 10 months, along with a final payment of €500.
Mr Walsh, who was represented by his friend, retired law lecturer Francis Watters, declined this offer on the basis that it would leave him “totally dependent” on the goodwill of his former employer as the payments would be difficult to enforce.
Barrister Cillian McGovern, representing Dundalk FC, suggested that this was a case of Mr Walsh wanting “to have his cake and eat it”, and appealed to him and Mr Watters as fans of the club to appreciate its financial challenges.
“Both Mr Watters and Mr Walsh portray themselves as lifelong fans of the club. They are acutely aware of the financial difficulties the club was in. This is not a secret,” he said.
Mr McGovern said the Dundalk’s new owner, John Temple, who attended the hearing, had come in with a crew to keep the club afloat. It came close to liquidation last September after reporting a loss of nearly €1.5 million for 2023.
“There are massive commitments made to Revenue… the FAI are scrutinising everything the club does, as is Revenue,” he said.
Following a brief recess to allow the parties to discuss matters in private, WRC adjudicator Davnet O’Driscoll was asked to adjourn the case for 11 months until May 6th, 2026.
This would allow Dundalk FC to make the phased payment of €6,500 to Mr Walsh as proposed, but would provide him with recourse to the WRC if the club reneged on its commitment.
Mr Watters indicated that Mr Walsh would seek to withdraw all of his complaints if the full amount was received, but asked that these – including his claim for unfair dismissal – remain in place until then.
“We are willing to pay the amount of money. It just has to happen over a period of time,” said Mr McGovern.
“Mr Temple has received advice from the financial controller of the club that that is the position, and the reason being is there has to be amounts available at all time for the club.”
He said the adjournment would “put the complainant at ease” in the knowledge that, “should anything go awry”, his recourse to the WRC would be preserved.
Ms O’Driscoll noted that 11 months was a long time for a case to be adjourned but said she appreciated that there were “other interests” that had needed to be considered. She commended the parties on reaching an agreement.
