A partner at a leading Northern Ireland estate agency joked about the breeding habits of Catholics and the size of their families, a Fair Employment tribunal has heard.
Mr Jonathan Montague (28), a Catholic, who is alleging religious discrimination against former employers Templeton Robinson, claimed yesterday that staff frequently engaged in religious banter in the office.
"There were jokes about the size of Catholic families and the rate at which they bred."
Mr Montague, giving evidence on the second day of the hearing, said staff believed him to be a Protestant because he had been a boarder at a leading grammar school, Methodist College.
"Any banter that contained any religious or political statement wasn't held back, so I was under the impression they believed me to be Protestant as well and wouldn't take offence." Comments about the size of Catholic families were made at the company's head office on the Lisburn Road in Belfast by one of the partners, Mr Keith Mitchell, and in the staff room by a sales agent, Mr Patrick Palmer.
Mr Conor Hamill, representing Templeton Robinson, objected to the evidence saying it had not been given in the notice of particulars. "We have no warning of any such allegation that any blatant anti-Catholic comment was ever made," he said.
Mr Montague, who was employed as an accounts administrator, said his relationship with Mr Mitchell rapidly deteriorated after Mr Mitchell heard him discussing Gaelic football on the phone. "There was a blatant loss of respect. He was very dismissive. At times I didn't exist to him."
Asked why he thought Mr Mitchell's attitude had changed, he said: "I quite clearly put it down to the fact that he had realised I was a Catholic."
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow. - (PA)