A Co Galway woman has told the High Court that during an interview for a job with Galway City Council she had been subjected to personal attacks and humiliated by the male chairman of the interviewing panel.
Ms Julianna Grace, of Crescent View, Corofin, Tuam, said she had been very upset and distressed and had to be medically treated for acute anxiety and stress, a condition which had until recently prevented her from formulating instructions for her solicitor.
Mr Martin Giblin, SC, counsel for Ms Grace, told Mr Justice Dan Herbert his client had been interviewed in March last for one of three positions of housing liaison officer with Galway City Council.
The panel had consisted of two females and a male chairman who, according to Ms Grace, had been openly hostile to her for no apparent reason.
"They constituted a personal attack on me and when I queried as to when I would know the result of the interview, the chairman replied in a sarcastic tone, 'You will know in five or six weeks'," she said in an affidavit.
One of the female interviewers had immediately retracted this comment and told her they were finishing interviews the following day and that the results would be known soon after.
"While I was attempting to answer questions, the chairman interjected on many occasions with supplementary questions and comments.
"He accused me of having very strong opinions and suggested that I must have difficulty with bureaucracy, forcefully suggesting I would not give my full allegiance to Galway City Council," she said.
Mr Justice Herbert refused Ms Grace leave to seek Judicial Review of the panel's recommendations and the city council's appointments to the three positions, saying she had failed to act promptly following the outcome of the interviews.