The Supreme Court handed down judgment in the case of Cahill v Dublin City University [2009] IESC 80 on 9th December 2009. The appellant sought to appeal the decision of the High Court that the termination of the respondent’s employment was invalid.

The respondent had given the appellant’s President notice of an offer made to the respondent by the National University of Ireland, Galway. It was agreed between the parties that the respondent had not tendered a formal letter of resignation, but other aspects of the discussion were in dispute.

The High Court had found for the respondent on three grounds, of which only the lack of opportunity to make representations as to his dismissal was to be discussed by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court stated that to assess the other two grounds would require a detailed consideration of section 25 of the Universities Act 1997, which it was not prepared to do.

The Supreme Court considered the appellant’s own statutes, and found that an obligation to provide dismissed staff fair procedures before dismissal should be implied. The appellant did not provide warning that a notice of termination would follow if the respondent did not state if and when he was leaving. As such, the Supreme Court found for the respondent and dismissed the appeal. Commenting generally, the Supreme Court stated that much of the case law on the subject such as Fanning v University College Cork [2008] IESC 59 was not helpful in deciding the present case.