An Irish man has claimed that he was discriminated against by a company which advertised jobs saying staff must be able to speak Portuguese.
David Pryle from Co Meath made the allegation in an Equality Tribunal case against Gaeltec Utilities, an Irish subsidiary of Portuguese firm Tegael.
In a statement, Gaeltec Utilities acknowledged the Equality Tribunal case, saying it would await the outcome of the investigation.
In early 2009, Mr Pryle replied to an advertisement for a job with Gaeltec, which had been contracted by the ESB to do sub-contracting work on its network.
However, Mr Pryle was puzzled by the fact that a knowledge of Portuguese was required.
Mr Pryle was later told his application had been unsuccessful.
His union, GMB, alleges that the requirement is discriminatory against Irish workers who do not speak Portuguese.
It also argues that there could be health and safety issues if staff working with electricity did not speak English, which Mr Pryle did.
GMB official Eamonn Coy alleged that the real reason for insisting on Portuguese was to facilitate importing cheap labour from Portugal.
He stressed that GMB and Mr Pryle had nothing against the Portuguese people, but felt that the provision enabled unacceptable discrimination against Irish workers.
The ESB has said it would never stipulate that staff working for a subcontractor should speak Portuguese.
An ESB spokesperson said it would appoint sub-contractors after advertising in the European Journal.
He said the ESB's priority is efficient communication with workers for reasons of health and safety, and that English would be preferred for that purpose.
The Equality Tribunal is expected to deliver a ruling within the next two months.
