diff --git a/grails-datastore-gorm/build.gradle b/grails-datastore-gorm/build.gradle
index d7143f5c3b8..d36d10e32e2 100644
--- a/grails-datastore-gorm/build.gradle
+++ b/grails-datastore-gorm/build.gradle
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ dependencies {
 
     implementation "org.slf4j:slf4j-api:$slf4jVersion"
     // :grails-datastore-gorm:compileGroovy requires jakarta.el.ExpressionFactory
-    compileOnly("jakarta.el:jakarta.el-api:$jakartaElVersion")
+    // required by gorm-hibernate5 test compilation 
+    compileOnlyApi("jakarta.el:jakarta.el-api:$jakartaElVersion")
 
     compileOnly("org.hibernate:hibernate-validator:$hibernateValidatorVersion")
     compileOnly("org.springframework:spring-jdbc:$springVersion")