Relates to Nic Phaidín's termination from employment at the US Embassy in Dublin, 27/02/1987, and her request to Mary Robinson (MR) in a letter, 10/03/2004, for assistance.
Nic Phaidín alleges she commenced employment at the US Embassy, 09/08/1976 and was dismissed without notice or appropriate compensation on 27/02/1987. In her letter to MR, she states she had attempted to persuade both the US Embassy, and the Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin to provide an explanation for her dismissal, and that the sole reason given was "security". She also attests that on the day of her dismissal she was questioned at length as to whether she had any links with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Correspondence references her claim that during her employment in the US Embassy, Ballsbridge, she was pinned to a wall and assaulted in 1985. [In 2012 Nic Phaidín lost a High Court case against the Department of Foreign Affairs over her dismissal. Case dismissed as court could do nothing more than express wish that if facts of case were placed before the then US ambassador and embassy officials it would receive proper consideration. Justice Nicholas Kearns noted that the manner of the treatment of Ms Nic Phaidín, who was interrogated before being offered the option of immediate dismissal or resignation from the embassy in Ballsbridge was disgraceful and that “she has felt a burning sense of injustice for many years over the way she was treated by the US embassy. It was a view shared by the Department of Foreign Affairs and I might add it’s a view I hold myself.“]
The file consists of copies of correspondence between Nic Phaidín and Dick Spring 05/08/1998-07/09/1999, between Nic Phaidín and Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, 02/04/2000-08/08/2000, between Nic Phaidín and United States Inspector General and various members of the United States Department of State 18/09/1987-11/05/2001 which also included a print-out of the court decision in a claim she brought before the United States Courts in 1993, between Nic Phaidín and the Embassy of the United States of America (USA) 30/03/1998-01/10/1999, between Nic Phaidín, Ruairí Quinn, Leader of the Labour Party, Raphael V. Siev, Barrister at Law, and friend of Nic Phaidín, and between Quinn and William J. Clinton, President of USA, and His Excellency Michael J Sullivan, Ambassador, Embassy of USA 02/05/2000-27/02/2002, between Nic Phaidín and the Office of the Ombudsman, 29/09/1999-09/11/2000, between Nic Phaidín and the Office of Presidential Correspondence (USA) 31/07/2000-02/01/2001, between Nic Phaidín and Hamid Gaham, Chief, Support Services Branch, United Nations High Commissioner for Human rights 04/09/1998-16/01/2001, between Nic Phaidín and the Human Rights Commission 10/04/2003-15/08/2003, and between Nic Phaidín and the Department of Foreign Affairs 30/03/1998-04/07/2003; letter from Nic Phaidín to Mr. Justice de Valera, the High Court, Dublin 21/07/2003, along with an official duplicate of Plenary Summons between Nic Phaidín, Plaintiff and The Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform, The Garda Commissioner and The Attorney General of Ireland, Plaintiffs, issued on 9/7/2002, stamped 16/06/2003; letter from Nic Phaidín to MR, 10/03/2004.
Nic Phaidín was prolific writer to many she thought could help. Unclear if MR ever got involved.
