Lily Kerr was sacked from two health posts
Lily Kerr has been sacked from the Health and Social Care Board for emailing documents to journalists and a trade union.
The health minister, Edwin Poots, also sacked her as chair of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
Mr Poots says he dismissed her because she had emailed sensitive HSC documents to "third parties".
Mrs Kerr says one document was not confidential and that the other had already appeared in the media and was in the hands of trade union officials.
Mrs Kerr is a former official of the trade union Unison and was a member of the Health and Social Care Board since it began.
Unison has condemned the sacking as "an anti-union move."
'Fell short'
The HSCB is responsible for commissioning services.
Mrs Kerr was appointed as chair of the Social Care Council for a four year term from December 2010.
It is the regulator for social workers and other social carers in Northern Ireland.
In a written statement to the Assembly Mr Poots said: "Non executive members, who are appointed to boards of HSC bodies, are in positions of responsibility, and as such must demonstrate the highest standards of corporate and personal conduct based on a recognition that patients and clients come first."
Mr Poots said that Mrs Kerr had been both an effective board member and chair but added: "I regret that the actions of Mrs Kerr on this occasion, and for whatever reasons she had, fell short of the standards expected by those holding public office."
Unison official Patricia McKeown said: "Lily Kerr has done nothing wrong. Information she shared was in the public domain anyway.
"We share her concern that decisions in our health service are increasingly being taken without a public presence at meetings rather than in the public, open and transparent manner which was promised.
"In our view Poots is engaging in anti-trade union action."
Mrs Kerr believes the dismissal is unfair and says she will be challenging it.
SDLP health spokesman Conall McDevitt questioned whether sacking Mrs Kerr was "a proportional response".
"In the last year we have seen health and social care trust executives whose organisations failed service users most grievously escape censure and we have seen legitimate whistleblowers aggressively targeted without any protection from the department," he said.
