Dr Toiréasa Ní Fhearaíosa applied for salary credits for past employment, but application was refused on grounds including that some of the work was unpaidDr Toiréasa Ní Fhearaíosa is a full-time law teacher and course co-ordinator at Kerry Education and Training Board. She is also a former Sinn Féin councillor and was the party’s unsuccessful candidate in the 2009 European Parliament elections.
The credits recognise a teacher’s past employment in Ireland or in another EU member state. The scheme can also award credits for reckonable service, including non-teaching experiences.I had the luxury for a few years to not have to question holding my wife’s hand on the street She also sought credits for three months in 2002 when she worked as an intern and legal researcher for US law firm D’Amato, Keegan and Duggan, and for three months in 2003 when she worked as a constituency advice clinic manager for Sinn Féin.
No reference was made to her time at the US law firm, which at the time of her application no longer existed due to the death of the firm’s principals in 2014. The decision was also irrational and unreasonable, and was made in breach of fair procedures, she argues.