Public Broadcasting Services is to appeal an Industrial Tribunal decision which had awarded former CEO John Bundy €226,488 in compensation after finding he was unfairly dismissed.

The state broadcaster said on Monday that it had been given legal advice by three sources that it had a strong basis to appeal. It pointed out that it had given eight reasons why Bundy was dismissed on the basis of gross misconduct.

Bundy had taken his grievance before the Industrial Tribunal, claiming that he had only learnt through the media about the unanimous vote of no confidence, taken against him at a directors’ meeting one year into his five-year contract.

Although his termination letter subsequently listed a number of alleged shortcomings, an internal investigation conducted by private firm RSM was only kick-started when the vote of no confidence had been taken. 

When delivering the award, Tribunal chairperson Doreen Parnis had stated that the “greatest anomaly” stemmed from the fact that the employee had never been given the chance of facing proper disciplinary proceedings, but had been fired on the basis of a vote of no confidence, taken two months before an internal investigation had even started.