Results 3,481-3,500 of 4,787 for speaker:Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The provision brings the Bill in line with the law as it stands. There is effectively no change other than streamlining existing legislation to ensure clarity.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Section 12(7) of the Employment Equality Act and section 7 of the Equal Status Act 2000 provide different fees, grants and admission arrangements for vocational training and access to education may apply between Irish and EU citizens on one hand, and citizens of other states on the other. The State is obliged under EEA agreements and EU-Switzerland agreements to ensure the benefits extended...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I am going to miss section 37 when it has been enacted. It has been a part of my life for the last three years. This was a long and tortuous process and many of us worked hard on a cross-party basis to bring the Bill to this stage. We are now at the heart of the Bill and, while I am conscious that it has not been possible to have a real debate on the text and options previously because the...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Senator Zappone seeks to delete a significant section from the Act. I wish we could do so. I also wish we were not dealing with the existing education system and Constitution or the reality in which we find ourselves. Yesterday, when I met many of the groups represented in the Gallery, I made the point that the education system perpetuates inequality by its very constitution. Since its...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I was unnerved for about 30 seconds when I found myself in agreement with Senator Mullen but then I was gratefully relieved by the rest of his contribution.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: On amendments Nos. 1 and 3, it is important to note that the existing section 37(1), in permitting favourable treatment on the religion grounds or action to be taken in relation to the undermining of the institution's religious ethos, does not permit discrimination on any of the other grounds allowed in the Employment Equality Act 1988. However, it has had a chilling effect and it does not...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Okay. Members can predict what I will say on amendment No. 2.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Senator Norris is holding the space over there. The suggestion that Ireland did not transpose the employment directive properly in section 37(1) has been addressed by the Attorney General in advice to the Department, quoting the text which is relevant here, Article 4.2: Member States may maintain national legislation in force at the date of adoption of this Directive or provide for future...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: We will have to agree to disagree. I do not agree with the Senator. My suggestion would be that an individual, privately funded church or congregation of people who have a particular belief system could legitimately take a case on the basis that it is a private institution, privately funded with a particular belief system and therefore is constrained by what we are trying to do here and...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: A thousand thoughts come to mind. On the amendment, teaching in a religious ethos school is not just about the teaching of religion. It should run through every subject taught and throughout the entire day. Technically, a teacher in a Catholic school is supposed to teach history, geography, mathematics etc. through the Catholic ethos. This is not only about the teaching of religion. In...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: No.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I welcome Senator David Norris to our side of the House.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I appreciate from where Senator Katherine Zappone is coming. I am reminded of the G. K. Chesterton quote about Christianity, that it would be great if anybody bothered to try it. Addressing amendments Nos. 4 and 11 to amendment No. 13 together, there is a weight of volumes setting out the belief systems of individual churches and other religious groups. There are theological and practice...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: The State should not find itself having to police these definitions in any way. Even if the State were to take that step, I suspect that, in practice, any such statement would be formulated at a sufficiently high level of abstraction to be of no particular use in dealing with the requirements we are setting out in amendment No. 13. I hope the Senators will accept the reason for my...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I demand clarification on that.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I had to resist the temptation to speculate on the number of individuals that constitute an orgy.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Possibly we should put down an amendment to clarify the matter. Amendments Nos. 5, 7, 8 and 10 take different forms and address the matter in different ways, but they have in common a focus on the employee's right to privacy. My Department has consulted with the Office of the Attorney General and I am happy in light of the consultation to accept the spirit of the amendments. Comparisons...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: Amendment No. 9 is a difficult one. Elements of what it seeks to achieve are contained within the text on privacy which we discussed earlier. I signalled acceptance of the amendment from Senator Zappone which is in concert with the broad principle of what Senator Averil Power is also seeking to achieve. Other elements cross the line into territory where the Supreme Court is likely to...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: I disagree with the Senator. We are not afraid of something that is not there but are legislating for something that very much is there. We must be very mindful of it. While many school staffrooms are very inclusive places where people can be who they want, not every schoolteacher or medical professional feels the same, and we must ensure the chilling effect, as it has been described,...

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: They said: "God, Sir, your girlfriend is massive." In Sheriff Street, the word "massive" is a compliment. It is very different from Monaghan, where telling somebody their wife or girlfriend is massive it has a different connotation. I had to spend a little time explaining that one. I digress. To speak bluntly to Senator Power's reservations, one cannot be seen to have been undermining...