THREE women and a man from the Republic are challenging a nationality rule which prevented them from applying for jobs in Northern Ireland.
Mr Ciaran O Cathain (35), a Dubliner, was told he was not eligible for the £70,000 a year job as deputy chief executive of the Industrial Development Board. He has been director of the Northern Ireland Hotel and Catering College, Portrush, Co Antrim, since 1991, and lives in Portstewart.
Irish nationals Ms Joan Keleghan, from Bangor, Co Down, Ms Katherine Colgan and Ms Patricia McGrane, both from Belfast, were rejected for posts as management trainees in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. The four were all told that to be eligible, they had to be Commonwealth citizens.
In their applications for judicial review in the High Court in Belfast yesterday, they sought a ruling that their exclusion infringed their rights of freedom of movement guaranteed by the EU treaty.
Mr Seamus Treacy, barrister, told Mr Justice Girvan that all four applicants were Catholics, Irish nationals, citizens of the EU and were working in Northern Ireland.
He said if any of them had applied for comparable jobs in the civil service governing the rest of the United Kingdom at the relevant time, they would have been eligible. "The exclusion was unique to Northern Ireland," said Mr Treacy. "After these applications were commenced the rule was changed so that only UK nationals could apply. I don't think it would be fruitful to debate what our suspicions would be as it is immaterial for the purpose of these applications.
Mr Treacy said the principal issue in the cases was whether the posts constituted "employment in the public service" within the meaning of Article 48 (4) of the Treaty which was a derogation from the principle of freedom of movement of workers.
If the court held in favour of the applicants, the nationality requirement was unlawful as well as discriminatory, he said.
The hearing continues today.