Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 22, line 26, to delete "and".

In accordance with Standing Order 140, I request the Chair to instruct the Clerk to make a correction in the Bill as amended in the select committee. The correction is as follows: on page 7, lines 33 and 34, the cross-reference to "section 18 to section 25" should be updated to read "sections 18 to 26", to take account of the new section being inserted by amendment No. 15. I am required to bring this technical change to the attention of the House.

Amendments Nos. 12 and 13 are technical and improve the text. Amendment No. 14 adds another subsection to section 24 whose purpose is to clarify an ambiguity that arose in the amendment by the Equality Act 2004 of the text of section 79(6) of the Employment Equality Act 1998. So as to allow the Equality Tribunal to deal with certain procedural and factual issues, a new subsection (3A) was inserted in section 79 of the 1998 Act by the Equality Act 2004. The tribunal already had this power with regard to one specific instance under section 79(3) relating to the question of whether different rates of pay are lawful under section 19(5) and section 29(5). These sections provide that an employer is not prevented from paying different rates of pay to different employees on grounds other than discriminatory grounds.

A consequential amendment made by the Equality Act 2004 to section 79(6) does not make clear that subsection (6)(b) was also to be amended to refer to the new subsection (3A). This ambiguity is addressed by the proposed amendment, although I appreciate my explanation for it is somewhat complex. It is merely to tidy up an anomaly arising under legislation.

Amendment No. 15 corrects an omission in the Equality Act 2004. So as to allow the Equality Tribunal to deal with certain procedural and factual issues as preliminary matters, a new subsection (3A) was inserted in section 79 of the 1998 Act by the Equality Act 2004. The tribunal already had this power with regard to one specific instance under section 79(3) relating to the question of whether different rates of pay are lawful under section 19(5) and section 29(5). These sections provide that an employer is not prevented from paying different rates of pay to different employees on grounds other than discriminatory grounds. Section 83(5) of the 1998 Act, which provides for an appeal to the Labour Court against a decision of the director under section 79(3) and for referral of cases back to the director on resolution of preliminary issues, was not amended by the 2004 Act to include a corresponding reference to section 79(3A). The amendment is proposed to remedy this anomaly. As is clear to Deputies, there is a direct link between amendments Nos. 14 and 15, which are to essentially address the same difficulty that arose, depending on to whom the application was made to address an issue. These are technical amendments which I hope the House will support.

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