Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, which is very welcome. Indeed, there is unanimity in the House on its merits. The principle of the Bill has been accepted by the Government although the Minister of State has argued that it must be amended to ensure its constitutionality. That is not a criticism of the Bill because almost all Bills are amended. Very few if any Bills go through the Houses without amendment. Debate on Bills is about strengthening and improving them. That is the purpose of what we are doing in debating the Bill itself.

There is evidence that many teachers who are gay, bisexual, lesbian or transsexual experience isolation and a level of disempowerment in their work. They feel constrained in what they can disclose about their sexuality or their personal lives if they are in a relationship. That is just not good enough in this day and age, in a society which purports to be equal. The people will back the equality principle fully because they have already shown their support for it in the referendum on gay marriage. The people have expressed their view strongly and shown that we live in a changed society, a more tolerant and understanding society. We must develop that tolerance and understanding in many other areas, not just with regard to the gay community. There is still a lot of discrimination in other areas which we must tackle in the future.

The Bill seeks to remove the existing exemption by imposing a stricter test for discrimination on educational or medical institutions which are in receipt of public funding compared with those which are privately funded. In the case of more favourable treatment on religious grounds, the Bill prohibits this from giving rise to discrimination on any other ground and requires that a person's religious belief be a genuine occupational requirement. In the case of action taken by an institution to prevent its ethos from being undermined, the Bill requires any such action to be objectively justifiable, having regard to the nature of the employment itself.

The Bill will require amendment because it appears to conflict with the constitutional protection for freedom of religion and of religious groups to establish their own institutions of the type at issue here. Furthermore, it does not provide any guidance on how to resolve disputes between employees and employers. It would remain the case that an employer has the right to take action against employees who act against the employer's best interests and disputes would, following the deletion of the existing provision, fall to be resolved under generally applicable labour relations law. The Bill requires some tweaking but that is understandable, if not to be expected because every Act that is passed by the Houses of Parliament is amended. The Bill is a genuine effort to ensure that the discrimination that we saw in the past against teachers - I will not refer to any particular case but Deputies will know what I am talking about - because of their sexuality will be prohibited in legislation. I sincerely welcome the Bill and look forward to the Committee Stage debate and the Bill's eventual passage into law.

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