If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)

Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

[Article] €1m state payoff for former Luas boss

05-07-2004 4:14pm

#1

Victor

Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,610 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: December 2000

Posts: 68971

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2765-1167751,00.html

The Sunday Times - Ireland
July 04, 2004

€1m state payoff for former Luas boss
Stephen O’Brien, Irish Political Correspondent

THE state has agreed to pay the former head of the Luas tram system close to €1m after ousting him from his job.

Donal Mangan agreed the settlement a fortnight ago, two years after he was replaced as acting chief executive of the Rail Procurement Agency.

The former public servant was responsible for placing the contracts for the trams and line construction of Luas, the light rail system that was launched in Dublin last week. But his job was advertised without consulting him and Mangan was offered another position in the company.

He started legal action to force the government to reinstate him after he was replaced. He reported every day to the office in Parkgate Street and drew his full salary of €150,000 until the legal action was settled. He was not allowed to work, even though he still had the use of a secretary and a company car. Transport sources said that Mangan received a “high six-figure sum”, one of the biggest of its kind. Mangan refused to comment yesterday on the value of the package.

The 58-year-old Cork man said going to work in an office with nothing to do for two years was a very lonely experience, but it was much harder on his family than on himself. “It is good that it is over,” he said. “Going in and out of the office was very trying, particularly when some staff came to me and said they would like to talk to me but it was disapproved of.

“It would have affected my family more than me. They were not directly involved in this, but were dragged into it. When somebody is doing a job, and nobody has told them they have done anything wrong it is not a pleasant situation.”

In March 2002 the board chaired by Padraic White, the former IDA boss, advertised to fill the post permanently. Frank Allen, a former banker, got the job. Mangan was offered another position as a project manager of Luas, which he declined. He has since been appointed chairman of VoIP Ireland, a start-up phone company.

Mangan was not invited to the opening of the Luas system last week but said he was proud of the €775m light rail system. More than a quarter of a million people have so far travelled on the Luas line from Sandyford to St Stephen’s Green, and it is estimated that 300,000 people will have used the tram service by teatime this evening.

Travel on the Luas has been free of charge since it opened on Wednesday, and free travel continues until the last tram tonight.

0