Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 10: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when amendments will be made to Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act, in order to remove discrimination towards gay and lesbian teachers and teachers whose beliefs may differ from those of school trustees, in view of the fact that education institutions are exempted from the provisions of the Act on the grounds of protecting their religious ethos. [25772/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The programme for Government states that people of non-faith or minority religious backgrounds and publicly identified LGBT people should not be deterred from training or taking up employment as teachers in the State. Accordingly, when Senator Power introduced a Bill to the Seanad, I was happy to see if it could form the basis for an all-party approach. I raised the matter with my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality who has responsibility for the equality legislation. From engagement with the Office of the Attorney General, it has emerged that there are complex legal issues. Our Departments will continue to engage with the Attorney General's office on this. The matter will also be referred to the new Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission which will come into existence later this year and it will engage on our proposals which were published early in the new year. I remain fully committed to reform in this area and when we return with legislative proposals, I hope we can make progress on a cross-party basis.

Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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Last Thursday was International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia and the theme of this year's event was combating homophobic and transphobic bullying in our schools. Rather fittingly, on the same day as that set aside to highlight awareness of this issue, the inaugural meeting of the anti-bullying forum also took place at the Department of Education and Skills headquarters in Marlborough Street.

While Irish society has generally become more accepting of homosexuality, many gay teachers in schools still risk falling victim to discrimination or to being put in the position where their job is at risk should their sexuality become known. It is unacceptable in this day and age that any teacher should risk facing dismissal on the grounds of sexual orientation. Regrettably, this is currently the case because of the existence of an archaic law that permits employers to penalise employees for actions that supposedly undermine their religious standards. The sexual preference of teachers should have no bearing on their ability to fulfil their role as educators while at the same time adhering to the religious ethos of the school where they teach. Despite this, Irish schools can often be hostile places for people who are gay. Many gay teachers risk discrimination, with some being passed over for promotion. Others have been verbally abused and have found themselves the victims of jokes and bullying. Where a school has an ethos that is hostile to gay and lesbian people, this can have implications for pupils, who risk being bullied should they disclose their sexuality. This can lead to depression, self-harm and suicide.

I welcome the Bill that recently came before the Seanad which makes amendments to the Employment Equality Act and will, hopefully, address homophobic discrimination. I also wish to acknowledge the Minister's commitment to tackling this issue. No-one employed in a school setting should be targeted or victimised because of his or her sexual orientation.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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We are all ad idem on this and I commend the work Senator Averil Power did in the Seanad in this regard. There are complexities around this issue because the Bill it is proposed to amend was referred to the Supreme Court in the first instance and so has the stamp of constitutionality, which is unusual for legislation. Therefore, we are advised legally that we must be extremely careful in how we propose to amend that legislation. This issue is also of concern to the Irish Human Rights Commission, which is now being amalgamated with the Equality Authority. This will occur later this year. The Minister for Justice and Equality and I have decided, in consultation with the Attorney General, that we should refer this issue, on which there is cross-party commitment to getting a resolution, to the new commission and to ensure further legal consideration is given to it so as to maintain the balance of rights that are there in terms of schools and ethos.

It is more important that we get this legally right than that we get it done early. I am committed to getting it done by the end of this year and to bringing it forward then. I share the concerns expressed in the other parts of the Deputy's comments.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I attended a briefing in Leinster House when Senator Averil Power published the legislation and the representative groups there were very appreciative of the work that had been done. Also, the Minister announced at the teachers' conferences last Easter that he would bring forward the legislation on an all-party basis and this was warmly welcomed. I appeal to the Minister to ensure the legislation is finalised and brought to the Oireachtas as soon as possible.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will be happy to try to do that.