Former fishing agency head was asked to drop allegations in return for financial package

The former chief executive of a State fishing agency was offered settlement terms to leave the organisation which would have required him to drop protected disclosures containing allegations against politicians, a report has found.The report by KPMG, commissioned by the Department of Environment, suggests there were two different versions of the severance terms.One was provided to the former chief executive Francis O’Donnell by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), while the other was sent by the agency to the Department of Environment.The KPMG report upheld, in part, one allegation of wrongdoing made by O’Donnell in a protected disclosure to the department in May 2025.READ MOREThis allegation maintained there had been a request by IFI that O’Donnell “discharge the protected disclosures in lieu of a financial package and a reference”.Other allegations made by O’Donnell were not upheld by KPMG, including that there had been a breach of a protected disclosure and of occupational sick leave procedures.Some claims made by O’Donnell that he had been blackmailed by a politician and that there had been attempts made to block the promotion of an IFI employee were not dealt with by the investigation as they had been referred to gardaí.Details of the KPMG report were sent to members of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee and may be considered at its hearing on Thursday.[ ‘The angler is sentinel’: river fishermen on new efforts to save Irish salmon stocksOpens in new window ]The KPMG report said: “We note that two versions of the settlement agreement have been made available to us during the course of our review. “[These were] an extract from an undated version of the settlement agreement provided by the discloser, containing a provision that any protected disclosures raised by him are to be discharged and do not need to be addressed (version one agreement).”A separate “version two” settlement agreement dated February 28th, 2025, provided by the Department of Environment “does not include this wording”, the report said.KPMG said it understood an agreement was never reached between O’Donnell and IFI “and therefore, neither the version one agreement nor the version two agreement was ultimately executed”. “We have not been provided with sufficient evidence to understand the context in which the provision was introduced or removed,” it said.“Therefore, we consider it appropriate to highlight the existence of the version one agreement as presented to us.“KPMG has therefore concluded that the allegation of wrongdoing on the part of IFI is partially upheld.”[ Bluefin tuna make it back to Irish waters after remarkable reboundOpens in new window ]The KPMG report recommended the Department of Environment engage with IFI to “provide guidance” regarding the inclusion of provisions in settlement agreements “which may restrict, discourage, or purport to negate protected disclosures”.“KPMG further recommends that IFI review its governance arrangements and template agreements to ensure they do not contain provisions which could be interpreted as restricting protected disclosures, and that appropriate guidance and training is provided to those involved in employee settlements.”It is understood that the Department of Environment has accepted the findings of the report. Asked whether its board or management accepted the findings of the report, IFI said it was “not in a position to comment at present”.