Former infrastructure minister Chris Hazzard has refuted allegations that he discriminated against a female candidate in the final pool of applicants to the board of the Warrenpoint Harbour Authority (WHA).
Geraldine Donaghy and Bob McCann were both replaced as non-executive directors on the WHA board in October last year, following a public appointment process run by the department for infrastructure, with the final choice made by the Sinn Féin minister.
Ms Donaghy was the only woman out of just five female applicants in a field of 37 to make it onto the final list of six names forwarded to the minister for consideration for the role. She is taking the employment tribunal case alleging discrimination after she failed to be selected, with the appointments given to Deep Sagar and Richard Johnston. The decision not to appoint Ms Donaghy leaves just one woman on the WHA board.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Northern Ireland carried out an investigation in June this year and said the outcome “in terms of Board diversity was very disappointing”.
The commission said that all decision makers involved in the public appointment process were aware that the then current Warrenpoint Harbour Authority suffered from a low level of representation of women and it held that there was an onus on those involved in the decision making process “to take vigorous legitimate action to improve the situation”.
Representing herself in the proceedings, Ms Donaghy told the tribunal on Monday last that she was “better qualified on the stated skill set” outlined in the application for the post and she alleged that additional criteria asking for knowledge of the Northern Ireland economy was introduced in their consideration of Mr Johnston – who is a leading economist – but was not listed in the published job specification.
She is also claiming that “three or four mistakes” were made in the marking and summation of applicant interviews which combined to discriminate against her candidacy.
Barrister for the department and Mr Hazzard, Aidan Sands, asked if taking Mr Johnston’s economic expertise into account was discriminatory against the other male candidates and added that “if there are very few women applying (you) expect that there are not going to be many female successful candidates. (They) have to give the best person the job and their sex is irrelevant.”
Mr Hazzard told the employment tribunal on Wednesday that Ms Donaghy hadn’t provided “one shred of evidence” to back her claim and he said he “totally refuted” her allegation. The Sinn Fein politician insisted he made the two appointments “based on the grounds of merit” and denied treating Ms Donaghy “less favourably because she was a woman.”
He said he had based his decision on the applicants with the “best skills to do the job” and added that, as a democratically elected minister, he “wanted to play a role in this appointment” to avoid it being just a “rubber-stamping process.”
The former minister, now an MP for South Down, said the applicant summary was the only piece of evidence he had before him, which he said he believed was “suffice to make my decision”.
Mr Hazzard added that he quickly identified three or four candidates he felt were “the stand-out candidates” and that he was particularly struck by the background of one of the applicants, in particular their career history and knowledge of economic issues.
When asked by Ms Donaghy if he believed a “diverse board” should be appointed, Mr Hazzard said it was “desirable” but added that employment law disallowed him from basing his decision on making the board diverse.
He also told the hearing that he had placed Ms Donaghy on a reserve list for the post, praising her “past experience in leadership and communication”.
“I was under no obligation to create a reserve list, by selecting you (Ms Donaghy) for the reserve list, I was acknowledging your skill set.”
Denying her claims of discrimination, he told Ms Donaghy she had provided him with “not one shred of evidence today of the serious accusation you have levelled against me”.
“I totally refute what has been alleged”.
The hearing continues.