Results 12,461-12,480 of 12,604 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: The purpose of Part VI of the Employment Equality Act 1998 is to provide guidance to employers, particularly large enterprises, in taking a proactive approach to implementing equality legislation in the workplace. Section 69 gives the Equality Authority particular powers, at its discretion, to invite a particular business or business group or sector to carry out an equality review or to...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: This is a minor technical amendment to the new provision in section 27(d) of the Bill, inserting a new section 75(3). The intention in this provision is to enable the director of the Equality Tribunal to issue appropriate guidelines or guidance notes to ensure that redress in equality cases taken before it is met with an efficient and fair response. It is considered that the provision, as...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: It was thought, when the legislation was being drafted and this office was being created, that it was better to give the director the power to recruit the staff in view of the fact that he or she would be best qualified to decide the calibre of employee required. It is a highly specific area. However, whatever staff are normally recruited by the director will be subject to the consent of the...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: As Senator Tuffy has said, the amendment in her name removes jurisdiction from discriminatory dismissal cases from the Labour Court. I deduce that she wants it to remain with the Equality Tribunal. The redress provided for in section 77 of the Employment Equality Act 1998 places such jurisdiction with the Labour Court for the good reason that this body has extensive statutory powers and long...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I do not think so. Under section 77(3) of the Employment Equality Act 1998 the option for a claimant in a general discrimination case to refer it to the Circuit Court is available, in order to allow access to an unlimited award of compensation. This is a requirement of the gender equal treatment directive, following the 1993 judgment of the European Court of Justice in the Marshall case....

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: The two official languages of the State are set down in Article 8 of the Constitution as Irish and English. The Constitutional Review Group, which reported in 1996 did not advocate the addition of any further languages. Irish has the status of a treaty language in the European Union. This derives from the fact that the treaties are in Irish. In the treaties, Irish is listed as one of the...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: The purpose of the provision is to ensure the exclusion is as narrow as possible. Acceptance of the amendment would exclude from the provisions of the Equal Status Act 2000 the letting of separate or self-contained accommodation in the owner's home such as bed and breakfast accommodation or a self-contained apartment in a house. As Members may be aware, the Equal Status Act 2000 includes an...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: The advice is that omission of this provision could result in our being found in contravention of the race directive which would cause grave difficulties. The legal section of the EU has made clear that there is very little room for discretion in this matter. I accept Senator Tuffy's point about the difficulty in interpreting what is meant by "a separate and self-contained part" within a...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: If what the Senator is proposing was accepted, the new section 6 would read: (b) in subsection (2), by substituting the following paragraph for paragraph (d): "(d) the provision of accommodation by a person in a part of the person's home or in circumstances where the provision of the accommodation affects the person's private or family life or that of any other person residing in the home,...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: Section 45 provides that the Minister for Education and Science does not discriminate where he or she restricts the making of higher education grants to EU nationals or provides for the payment of grants at different rates as between nationals and others. There is no reason that the State, in a situation of finite resources, should subsidise by way of grants attendance at third level courses...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I will do so.

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I understand that there are hardship cases. My understanding is that there is general unhappiness among third level students about the level of grants. The Government recognises that to some extent and wishes to concentrate resources on increasing the rate of the grants for those who are already entitled to them, namely Irish and EU nationals. However, I understand Senator Henry's point of...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: As I understand it, this section seeks to allow for direct provision, which is the system we operate, of accommodation and assistance to persons who have applied for asylum status and are awaiting decisions. The section does not permit discrimination in the provision of goods and services to anyone in the State on the basis of race or nationality. However, section 47 clarifies that any...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I propose to accept the principle of this amendment. I will table an amendment exactly like or very similar to Senator Tuffy's on Report Stage. I thank the Senator for drawing this lacuna to our attention.

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: The European Communities (Burden of Proof in Gender Discrimination Cases) Regulations 2001 give effect to Council Directive 97/80/EC on the burden of proof in cases of discrimination based on sex. The regulation applies to gender discrimination cases taken under the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Maternity Protection Act 1994. The Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003 will revoke...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I am sympathetically disposed to this amendment. The case has been very compellingly put by Senator Tuffy who was ably supported by Senator Terry and Senator Quinn. Unfortunately, I cannot accept the amendment today for reasons I will explain. I would love to avail of Senator Quinn's invitation to make a little history. I read in The Sunday Times the article to which Senator Tuffy referred...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I thank the Senators for their constructive approach, and will convey the views of Senator Tuffy to the Government. I realise the urgency of this matter, and that during the recent period of very rapid economic growth, bottlenecks developed in certain sectors of the labour market, as Senators are aware. These could have been alleviated in certain areas known to me, but for the compulsory...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I cannot disagree with the logic of anything Senator Terry says. I agree with all her sentiments. However, I have been advised that because the proposed amendment is aspirational in character, it would not be appropriate to include it in primary legislation. The Act of 1998 is by definition an Equality Act. The provisions of the earlier gender equality legislation were enhanced and extended...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: The Senator has raised a fair point and I thank her for bringing it to our attention. She has highlighted an omission and between now and the taking of the Bill in the Dáil I propose to either accept her amendment as it is or consult with the Parliamentary Counsel to see if we can put it somewhat more elegantly. I accept the principle of the amendment.

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (18 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I have some sympathy with Senator Terry's fears about the use of terminology like "unreasonable burden" in the context of disability but, unfortunately, I cannot accept the amendment for legal reasons. Before the European directive was transposed into law, the Supreme Court decided that extra costs cannot be imposed on employers in respect of people with disabilities other than nominal costs....