A RULING in the High Courtin, Belfast yesterday means that citizens of the Irish Republic will in future be eligible to apply for more jobs in the Northern Ireland civil service.
Mr Justice Girvan held that the Civil Service Commission discriminated against three women and a man, all citizens of the Republic, by declaring them ineligible for appointment to posts in the public service on the grounds of their nationality.
They included Ciaran O Cathain, a 35 year old Dubliner, who applied for the £70,000 a year job as deputy chief executive of the Industrial Development Board. He is the director of the Hotel and Catering College at Port rush, and lives in Portstewart.
The women, Ms Joan Keleghan, with an address in Bangor, Ms Katherine Colgan and Ms Patricia McGrane, both with addresses in Belfast, were similarly rejected for posts as management trainees.
Mr Justice Girvan held that the posts in question were not of such a state "sensitive" nature as to justify the exclusion of non nationals as permitted under Article 48.4 of EU law.
Therefore their rights guaranteeing freedom of movement had been infringed, he said in a reserved judgment.
A barrister, Mr Seamus Treacy, who appeared for all four (instructed by the Fair Employment Commission) had argued at the hearing last September that Irish citizens were expressly included in those eligible to apply for comparable posts in the rest of the United Kingdom.
He said it was unique in Northern Ireland that the exclusion of Irish nationals arose. The posts in question were not of such a sensitive nature as to demand a special bond of allegiance.
Mr Treacy said his argument was backed by the fact that the posts were regarded as suitable for Commonwealth citizens who owed no allegiance to the United Kingdom or the crown and, in Britain, for Irish citizens who likewise owed no such allegiance.
The judge said there was a difference in Mr O Cathain's case and that of the three women. Whereas they were entitled to a declaration that their community rights had been infringed, he refused to make a similar declaration in respect of Mr O Cathain.
He had not suffered injustice, loss or damage since he had no real prospect of being appointed.