Dundalk FC ordered to pay €64,000 to ex-sporting director Gartland

Dundalk FC sacked its former football director Brian Gartland in an act of whistleblower penalisation after he voiced health and safety concerns about squad members playing "three days a week straight" upon coming back from injury, a tribunal has found.

Mr Gartland has won over €64,000 for multiple breaches of employment law by the club after filing complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission in the wake of his high-profile sacking in May 2024.

The adjudicator, Conor Stokes, proceeded with a hearing last November without any presence from Dundalk FC management.

He noted correspondence from the club's new owner stating that "he had just taken over the club" and was unaware of the proceedings. Mr Stokes wrote that the club had been on notice of the claims since July 2024 and decided it was properly on notice of the case.

Mr Gartland told the WRC that he made protected disclosures expressing health and safety concerns on 19 April and 22 April last year, shortly after a new manager had been appointed in April 2024

In the fortnight prior to the new manager's appointment, he had been acting as co-manager of the team on a temporary basis, the tribunal heard.

He told the tribunal he "raised an issue" with the then-owner of the club about a "health condition that the new manager had which may impact on the team" – telling his employer he was unsure about the accuracy of the information and suggesting the owner follow up on the matter.

Neither the former owner of the club nor the manager in question were named in the decision published by the WRC.

He said the intention of the club had been that the co-managers would be in a position to step away from team management duties when the new manager was appointed, but that they "couldn't",