A senior manager at British Telecom today rejected allegations he promoted a fellow Catholic because he was a neighbour and a Gaelic footballer.
Alexander Crossan was accused before a Fair Employment Tribunal of discriminating in favour of Anthony Finnegan for the post of customer service support team manager.
Mr Finnegan was given the job after Mr Crossan and Human Resources manager Anne Latimer, a Protestant, interviewed nine internal candidates in August 2001.
Paul Brown (50) from Belfast, who was one of the eight unsuccessful candidates, told a Fair Employment Tribunal that Mr Crossan lived close to Mr Finnegan in the Lagmore development near Lisburn and had Gaelic football connections.
On the first day of a two day hearing, he claimed that the senior manager would have known that Mr Finnegan was captain of the Antrim County side.
He also claimed that Mr Crossan would also have been aware that Mr Finnegan's father-in-law had worked in his department.
Mr Brown, an engineer with 26 years experience at BT, said he could not believe that Mr Finnegan who had been with the company for six years was the best person for the job.
"The other candidates with around 200 years experience in the company might not as well have been there," he said.
But Mr Crossan, who was Senior Controls Manager at the time, said he did not know Mr Finnegan before he interviewed him for the position, adding that he and Ms Latimer had agreed that he had been the best candidate at interview.
"Anne Latimer and I had an equal voice. We arrived at a shared view of what the score of each individual should be," added Mr Crossan.
Mr Crossan also denied Mr Brown's claim that Mr Finnegan was his neighbour and the assertion that he was an avid follower of Gaelic football.
"Within Lagmore there would be over a thousand houses. There are several thousand people in this area and I didn't know Anthony Finnegan prior to this selection," he added.
"I can count on two hands the number of live Gaelic matches I have been at since I was married 20 years ago.
"I have not seen Anthony Finnegan play football. I have seen Antrim County play live once and that was in the late 1970s," he added.
He agreed that at the time of the interview, Mr Finnegan's father-in-law worked in his department.
"He was one of 100 people working for me. I didn't discuss with him or any other people who their sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, nephews and nieces were.
The hearing is expected to continue tomorrow.