Garda whistleblower loses enhanced sick pay appeal

Updated / Thursday, 12 Nov 2026 17:08

A senior garda who says he was penalised for making protected disclosures about alleged defective gun holsters has lost his appeal against the dismissal of his claim for enhanced sick pay.

Superintendent Brian O'Reilly claimed he had been penalised by the Garda Commissioner for making a protected disclosure.

He has been on sick leave since April 2023, and claimed he should have received enhanced sick pay allowing him to receive his full salary.

He claimed his illness was classified as "ordinary illness" which means he receives 50% of his pay. He sought an order compelling the Garda Commissioner to classify it instead as an "injury on duty" under which he would receive full pay.

He said he had come under financial pressure and the stresses of providing for his family and being able to continue to pay his mortgage were adding to his medical condition.

His case was dismissed by the Circuit Civil Court last year and he appealed to the High Court.

In his decision, Judge Micheál P O’Higgins noted that the main legal and factual issues in the case would be resolved before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) which has not yet fully heard the case.

He said Superintendent O’Reilly’s disclosures related to concerns about allegedly unsafe pistol holsters and their suggested involvement in the death and injury of garda colleagues.

The judge said the disclosures also included matters related to the manner in which garda management dealt with incidents connected with the holsters, the acquisition and cost of defective ammunition, the storage and handling of firearms, the alleged failure of management to hold people responsible for improperly disposing of prohibited substances, as well as the unauthorised retention and loss of biometric data including DNA and fingerprints.

Superintendent O’Reilly alleges he suffered several acts of penalisation for making these disclosures. He said a disciplinary complaint was made against him, his application for an acting up allowance was denied and he said he was denied the full sick leave payments to which he said he was entitled.

This High Court appeal dealt only with the issue over sick leave payments.

Mr Justice Micheál P O’Higgins upheld the Circuit Civil Court’s ruling that the superintendent’s application for an order directing the enhanced sick pay to be paid, was "out of time" and that an extension of time was not warranted.

But he said he would consider the substance of the appeal because of the particular circumstances of the case. However, he continued that he was not satisfied that the superintendent had identified sustainable grounds for the injunction he sought to be granted.

The judge ruled that his overall view of the case was that if the superintendent was eventually successful in his action against An Garda Síochána, damages would be an appropriate remedy and he had not demonstrated that the balance of justice required the granting of a mandatory order in relation to his sick pay.

Futhermore, the judge found that the decision over sick pay involved multiple people at different stages of the process.

'Depressing reality' whistleblowers targeted for no reason

He said as matters stood, no evidence had been put forward that the employees involved engaged in targeting behaviour or colluded in anyway to bring about a refusal of the "injury on duty" designation.

Judge O’Higgins said however, that the court and the WRC must keep in mind lessons learned from previous cases, including the "depressing reality" that whistleblowers had been targeted for no reason other than having made a protected disclosure.

But he said this underscored the importance of the best available evidence being adduced to allow the WRC to do its job. He said the whistleblower had rights but so too did the accused party.

The judge said the superintendent’s strongly held beliefs that certain decisions and career setbacks he suffered were as a result of penalisation were valuable but not the same as objective, independently corroborated evidence from others.

He said these were all issues that would be explored before the WRC.