Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That the gap in other countries is worse is, the Taoiseach says, no excuse and yet he uses it as an excuse. We have a vehicle in the Bill passed by the Seanad. We can pass it here readily. The notion that we will start a new Bill with pre-legislative scrutiny in a couple of weeks' time with no prospect of enactment in the current calendar year makes a nonsense of new politics. If the Government is serious about addressing the issue, it will surely not matter whether the Bill comes from the Labour Party or is drafted by Government. There was no fundamental issue with the legislation as it passed through the Seanad and, in fact, a promise to support it was made. Why will the Taoiseach not simply address this issue if he agrees that it is one of critical importance and that gender-biased pay is unacceptable? Let us start the process by shining a light on companies' pay bills and determine how exactly they fare in gender-focused pay terms. I ask the Taoiseach again to simply accept the legislation. If he wants to amend it on Committee Stage, let us do that but let us also get this done rather than pretend to want to address it while resisting the mechanism for doing so when it is presented.

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