Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I thank all the witnesses for coming in this morning and for the reports they have prepared. I have found them very helpful. It is also very encouraging that people attach such importance to the Constitution, really regard it as their document, and are very concerned about how and if it should be changed. Where we are as a committee, and where I believe everyone here today is, is that everyone believes that the wording in Article 41.2 is inappropriate and that it should go. There are three options for us a committee when we come to making a recommendation. The first is that we just recommend deletion. The second is that we recommend amending the article not in a meaningful way but just to make it gender neutral and more fair in respect of gender. The third option is that we would amend it in a meaningful way so that it would become a socioeconomic right under the Constitution. My own preliminary view, and I have not reached a final view, is similar to the view of Mrs. Justice McGuinness, which is that deletion is probably safer. Perhaps I am being over cautious about that.

In terms of a proposed amendment to Article 41.2, would Mrs. Justice McGuinness agree that it is meaningless at present in terms of giving rights to women or even entitling a man to take a claim that he has been discriminated against because he is not mentioned there?