Mr. Liam Herrick:

I thank the committee for having us in and for all of the very helpful questions. We will follow up directly with Deputies and Senators on a number of technical points they have raised. One point that was raised was about the principle of compensation and redress being a deterrent. One point we raised in our submission that did not come up was that we also advocate with regard to, for example, intoxicating liquor and licensed premises, such that where an award has been given against a licensed premises for discrimination on the basis of employment or access to goods and services, it might also be a ground for challenging a licence. We think that we need to reverse the erosion of protections in that area.

More generally, we believe that there is an opportunity here. Already, there is material in other parts of the State apparatus that will assist this process. The civil legal aid review addresses crucial issues of access to legal aid and access to justice, for example, in discrimination claims. The code of practice that we have submitted to the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality would address many of the concerns that exist from a business perspective or from an employee and service user perspective about how principles of reasonable accommodation are applied in practice.

More than anything else, we are concerned about the many issues that have not been addressed in this general scheme. We observed previous practice whereby some of these issues may emerge at later stages in the process, but it will not afford the committee the opportunity to bring in those experts that the committee might wish to hear from to fully inform and support the committee's consideration of the legislation. Some of issues that are not visible at this point are fundamental to the legislation. We encourage the committee to take the opportunity and engage with the Government to seek clarification on what the latter's intentions are about the development of this legislation and the matters it will address at later stages in the process. The question is whether the facility will be given to the committee to have pre-legislative scrutiny of those items if they are added at a later point.