UNFRIENDLY FIRING

Prison officer 'unfairly dismissed' for going AWOL to fight in Ukraine

- BY SEAN MCCARTHAIGH

PRISON chiefs have been ordered to reengage a warder who was fired after he went absent without leave to fight in Ukraine.

The direction by the Workplace Relations Commission came after it ruled the Irish Prison Service unfairly dismissed Brian Meagher, who suffered a life-threatening injury in the conflict.

It said the IPS case was “lopsided” and failed to adequately represent his reason for his absence, that it would be short-term and that he had been traumatised.

Mr Meagher, who worked in Mountjoy Prison and whose young daughter is Ukrainian, took up arms in May 2022 and hoped to be back in Ireland by late August “with no one knowing”.

He was fired after an IPS official saw him giving an interview on RTE's Prime Time from a hospital bed in September 2022 after he was wounded in action.

Mr Meagher claimed he could not respond to queries from the IPS about his absence due to his wounds.

The case was subsequently referred to the secretary general of the Department of Justice who ultimately decided to dismiss Mr Meagher in May 2023.

Hi sister Helen Barker told the IPS in November 2022 that he was back in Ireland receiving treatment in Cork University Hospital but that he had every intention of returning to work.