Re Northern Ireland Electricity Service's Application
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1987 |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
Tender for contract - Complaint that company suffered unlawful discrimination with regard to tender for contract - Whether "person"included persons corporate - Whether a body corporate is capable of religious belief or political opinion - Whether such a body can have a policy of discrimination - Whether complaint of unlawful discrimination can be made by bodies corporate - Whether less favourable treatment on ground of third party's belief or opinion constitutes discrimination - Whether all of complaint must be in writing - Whether substance of complaint disclosed - Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act, 1976 (c. 25), ss. 16, 23, 24, 30, 45, 57.
The applicant sought tenders for work at Ballylumford Power Station, County Antrim. A company which submitted the lowest tender was unsuccessful in obtaining the contract and made a complaint to the Fair Employment Agency (F.E.A.) alleging unlawful discrimination on the ground of religious belief or political opinion in that it had not been awarded the contract. The company subsequently made a further complaint that it had been unable to obtain sub-contract work of the main contract on the ground of religious belief or political opinion. It was alleged by the company that the unions on the site suspected the company of having I.R.A. sympathies and accordingly the unions were unwilling to work with the company's employees. The company was on the applicant's list of approved tenderers. The F.E.A. informed the applicant that it proposed to investigate the complaint under section 23 of the Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Act, 1976. The applicant sought judicial review of the F.E.A.'s decision on the grounds that: (a) A complaint of unlawful discrimination could not be made by a body corporate since it was not a "person" within section 24 (1) of the 1976 Act. (b) A limited liability company could not have a religious belief or political opinion within the meaning of the 1976 Act. (c) There was no proper "complaint in writing" within section 24 (1) as the complaint had not been written out by the complainant. (d) The complaint was invalid as it did not expressly raise any matters falling within the ambit of section 23 of the 1976 Act. Held, refusing the application, 1, there was nothing in the 1976 Act to displace the presumption in schedule I of the Interpretation Act, 1978, that the word "person" included a body corporate, moreover, the Act...
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