‘Are you married?’... Halligan’s interview gaffe costs taxpayer
TAXPAYERS will have to pay €7,500 in compensation to a high-ranking civil servant after she was asked during a job interview with John Halligan if she was married or had children.
At the interview in May 2016, the Junior Minister for Trade and Skills said to the woman: ‘I shouldn’t be asking you this, but... are you a married woman? Do you have children? How old are your children?’
Mr Halligan’s queries resulted in the Workplace Relations Commission ruling that the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation had discriminated against the woman and ordering that she be compensated.
Yesterday, the comments were branded ‘shameful’ by the union representing the civil servant, the Public Service Executive Union. Deputy general secretary Billy Hannigan said ‘someone running a corner shop’ wouldn’t have asked such outrageous questions, let alone a Government minister.
The executive officer – employed by the Civil Service since 1993 – had applied for one of two posts of private secretary in May last year to Mr Halligan and another junior minister in the same Government department.
Caught off guard, the female official answered the questions in the interview – she confirmed that she was married and that she was the mother of two children and indicated their ages. In reply, the minister observed: ‘You must be very busy.’
Yesterday Mr Halligan, speaking from a State visit to Thailand, said he regretted that the incident had occurred and claimed he was actually trying to be ‘as accommodating as possible to people who have children’.
News of the compensation payout caps a difficult week for Mr Halligan who was ridiculed last week after the Irish Daily Mail revealed he had written to the North Korean embassy offering to travel there on a peace mission.
At the WRC hearing, Mr Halligan’s words at the interview were neither challenged or denied.
In her ruling which found that the woman was discriminated against, WRC adjudication officer, Penelope McGrath found the minister’s comments were ‘outmoded’. She found that the woman ‘was put in a difficult situation in a job interview by reason of probing questions which went to the heart of her married and family life which historically could not be considered genderneutral questions’.
Ms McGrath also found that the interview process was ‘tainted’ by the fact that these questions were raised and allowed to be raised. She said: ‘The same or even similar questions were not asked of the other two candidates. I do not find that the complainant was not ultimately selected by reason of the questions asked and answered.’
Labour TD Seán Sherlock said Minister Halligan should consider his position and called on him to pay the €7,500 sum himself. He said: ‘‘This is a very serious matter. The minister broke the law.’
Yesterday, Mr Halligan said: ‘Operating a family-friendly environment has always been a key ethos of mine as an employer... This was the first time I was conducting an interview of this sort. I did not realise that it was unacceptable to ask such a question.’
He added: ‘But the question was coming from a good place ... I wanted to assure her that I am as flexible as possible with members of my team with any external or non-work commitments they may have.’
‘You must be very busy’ ‘The minister broke the law’