Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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That closes our first round. I will ask my own questions, many of which flow from it. Colleagues might wish to speak again on the second round. Coming back to Deputy Cronin's point, we have explored, both today and in previous sessions, what our committee can bring with regard to recommendations 1 to 3, and what our role is in advising or recommending to the Government that the referendum be held. We want this to be the last committee that looks at this. We want to see a referendum in 2023, which we have all agreed as an aim of our committee. We want to see how best we can assist Government in doing that. We see our role as being somewhat like the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, chaired by former Senator, Catherine Noone, which delivered to Government a report on how to proceed with holding the referendum.

I take the Minister's point about not wishing to pre-empt the work of this committee. We need to establish how we can best assist and support his Department and the Government to make a political decision on the holding of the referendum. As others have said, we previously heard from officials, academics and NGOs about how the process would unfold. This is our last session dealing with this module and these first three recommendations. The committee will then need to decide in private what approach it wishes to take. We have previously explored with stakeholders the issues of deletion and replacing the full Article 41. The Minister has already highlighted that that would open up debates about, for example, divorce and reopening marriage equality. The consensual view that we were presented with was that it would be better to go for a more minimalist approach, which is the approach that the assembly recommended. In our previous session, we engaged closely with the detail of those three recommendations and how they could be most effectively brought forward to a referendum.

We would be happy to provide the Minister with an indication of our thinking once the committee has come together privately. It would be great to get a response from the Department then. That might address Deputy Cronin's point about how it would provide us with a timeframe, rather than us just coming forward on 3 December with a report that would then have to be considered. We may want to engage informally with the Department prior to the finalising of our report. That is probably the best way to proceed, if that is agreeable.

It is urgent that we do this, but we need to do it in a way that will achieve the passing of the referendum. We are all cognisant of the political risks. As Deputy Carroll MacNeill said, we have discussed how best to achieve the holding of a referendum that will not throw up more problems and opposition than we might have predicted.

I have three focused questions which stray beyond recommendations 1 to 3, but which address issues the Minister raised in his opening statement. The first is on the gender pay gap. It is great to see the progress that has been made on that. It is nice to know that this will tick recommendation 33 from the Citizens' Assembly which related to the Gender Pay Gap Information Act. That is very welcome. Will that address recommendation 32, which is setting the targets to reduce the hourly gender pay gaps? The Minister may wish to refer back to the committee on that issue at a future date. We will be considering pay and workplace conditions at a later date. The Citizens' Assembly sought not only the implementation of the law but also the setting of targets by 2025 and again by 2035.

On childcare, the Minister detailed what progress is being made. How will that link with recommendation 8 of the Citizens' Assembly on childcare? Again, it is setting out a timeframe over the next decade to move to a publicly funded, accessible model of early years and out-of-hours childcare. How does the work the Department is doing match that recommendation? A key part of our work is looking at what work is already under way in government and how that can link with and deliver on the Citizens' Assembly recommendations.

The final matter is recommendation 42, which we will be considering later. Again, the Minister may wish to refer back at a later date on this, but the assembly has recommended a statutory body for gender equality under the responsibility of a Cabinet Minister. The committee needs to look at how best that may be implemented, but it would be great to know if there are any preliminary views from the Department.