A former State agency communications officer was questioned about his political affiliations on his first day on the job when a manager found out he was a native Irish speaker, a tribunal has heard. The worker, Seanán Ó Coistín, said he was asked directly by the manager at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland: “Are you a member of Sinn Féin?”He said it was one of a series of “microaggressions against the first official language” he experienced over the two years he worked at the FSAI. Ó Coistín also said that when he raised concerns about errors in the Irish version of an annual report, he was told it would be published anyway.“Slop was okay in Irish, even though the State spent €10,000 on an official translation,” he said.The complainant has said he spent the final three weeks of his last temporary contract in December 2024 on administrative leave for sending a mass email to 140 co-workers criticising a lack of ability with the Irish language at the agency.Aer Lingus job cuts and Ryanair’s profits plunge - what is happening in the Irish aviation sector? Listen | 41:54Ó Coistín is pursuing a complaint under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), arguing he was penalised as a whistleblower for sending the email. “When I leave the FSAI, there will be zero Irish language capacity ... there is no one else who is fluent and can speak it, read it and write it to an advanced level,” Ó Coistín wrote in the email. “The sad fact is that when I am gone, there will be more Polish, Spanish, French and Italian in the FSAI than Irish. As an Irish State agency, that is shameful,” he wrote. Giving evidence to the Workplace Relations Commission on Thursday, Ó Coistín said he was upset that a human resources manager at the agency had accused him of “racially harassing people” with the message. Ó Coistín said in his evidence the FSAI was full of “very nice, highly educated people”, but there was “no competency in Irish”. He said that on his first day at the organisation, a different manager noticed his name and asked him whether he was “from the Gaeltacht” and whether he spoke Irish at home. Ó Coistín said his father was, but his mother wasn’t, and the level of Irish at home depended on whether she was in or not, the third question the manager asked was: “Are you a member of Sinn Féin?”His answer was “no”, the tribunal noted. The FSAI’s lawyers objected to this evidence, arguing it was not relevant. The press was directed not to name the manager in any report on the matter. In her own evidence, FSAI human resources manager, Jackie Wall, said she was approached with several verbal complaints before she had an opportunity to read the email herself. Two staff addressed complaints in writing “about how upset they were by some of the language used”. “People were, I would say, angry, hurt, there was a range of emotions in the office on that particular day,” she said. Her concern was that it would turn into a “keyboard warriors” situation with “words going back and forward” on the email system and staff WhatsApp groups. “One word can lead to another, to another, and that can cause a bigger issue,” she said. An investigation took place in January 2025, examining one allegation that Ó Coistín had breached the FSAI’s diversity and equality policy and a second allegation that he had breached its email policy, the agency’s barrister, Peadar Ó Maoiláin submitted. Counsel said Ó Coistín had been “exonerated” of the alleged breach of the diversity and equality policy, but that the investigation found that he did breach the agency’s email policy. Ó Coistín commenced his evidence today speaking in Irish, which was interpreted to English by a WRC-assigned translator. However, upon saying: “Bhí mé ag obair ar suíomh greasán an FSAI [I was working on the FSAI website]” and having this translated into English as “I was working for the FSAI,” without reference to the website, Ó Coistín told the interpreter: “Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil Gaeilge mhaith agat. [I don’t think you have good Irish.]”The interpreter said he understood Ó Coistín’s frustration. O’Neill offered to adjourn so that another translator could be found, but the complainant said he had been waiting a year and a half for a hearing and wanted to get on with the case and would continue in English for the sake of accuracy.He proceeded with his testimony in English, and the interpreter was excused after a time. O’Neill concluded the hearing after taking closing arguments, and told the parties he would give his decision in the autumn.