Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 38

     
     1        is irrelevant.  We do not care what happens in Ireland."
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just stop a moment.  This is not the time for
     4        a speech.  I have tried to make it clear what my problem is
     5        about this, and it is no use just going off and making a
     6        kind of speech -- I am not meaning to be impolite about you
     7         -- which you might make at Hyde Park Corner, because I
     8        have asked you to address a specific potential problem.
     9        You can ignore it if you like, but the problem will still
    10        be in my mind.
    11
    12   MR. MORRIS:  I understand the question of jurisdiction ----
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Quite frankly, you have to bear in mind who
    15        your witness is.  When Mr. Preston comes back, make a note
    16        to ask him if he knows what, if any, legal interest either
    17        the first plaintiff or the second plaintiff had in Pantry
    18        Franchise Ireland Limited.  Ask Mr. Nicholson again, if you
    19        wish, to what extent, if at all, either the first or second
    20        plaintiff in this action can govern or affect the way a
         franchisee, particularly Pantry Franchise Ireland Limited,
    22        treats its employers, either with regard to the rates of
    23        pay, their conditions of employment, or whether they can
    24        engage themselves in unions or not.
    25
    26        Just listen to me one jot further, Mr. Morris, because it
    27        is not clear to me, at the moment, reading that, that the
    28        Rights Commissioner has made any more finding than this,
    29        that Mr. McCann was summarily dismissed, and that the
    30        Company which employed him has not been able to put forward
    31        a good reason for it.  I do not know what Irish law is, but
    32        in England, if my recollection serves me correctly, once
    33        the employer establishes that his contract of employment
    34        has been determined, the burden switches to the employer to
    35        show that there was good reason for that, and that it was
    36        done in accordance with fair procedures.  If the employee
    37        establishes that he has been dismissed, and the employer
    38        does not call any evidence, then a finding of unfair
    39        dismissal is bound to follow.
    40
    MR. MORRIS:  Yes.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If that is an accurate recollection of the
    44        laws that prevail in this country, for all I know it is the
    45        same in Ireland.
    46
    47   MS. STEEL:  If in a criminal case someone does not call any
    48        evidence and they get convicted, they do not then say at
    49        the end of that: " Oh, well, I was not guilty, it was just
    50        that I could not call my witnesses." 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is not the same situation at all. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:  McDonald's could have brought a witness if they had
    55        felt it was important enough.  The fact was that
    56        they  -----
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am sorry, I am not going to say it against,
    59        but you have now said McDonald's could have brought a
    60        witness.  It would not have been for McDonald's to bring a