Results 141-160 of 12,346 for speaker:Willie O'Dea

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...

Tribunals of Inquiry: Statements. (20 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I brought it through Second Stage yesterday.

Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (20 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Maternity protection is a fundamental right of any pregnant employee and one which has been enshrined in our legislation since 1981. The Maternity Protection Act 1994 further enhanced the existing legislation by implementing the provisions of the Pregnant Workers' Directive 92/85 EEC. It retained all entitlements of the previous legislation...

Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (20 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: Yes.

Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (20 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I thank everyone who contributed to this debate. I thank them for their generally positive remarks and support for the Bill. In the course of the debate, people lost sight of the fact that this legislation is the product of social partnership. It represents a deal worked out between employers, who are naturally concerned to protect their interests and minimise their costs, and the...

Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (20 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: This amends the earlier Act, and anything that is not amended still stands. A breast-feeding employee is defined as an employee up to 26 weeks after her confinement. However, we will re-examine that to ensure it is absolutely clear. Deputy Gay Mitchell raised a query about what safeguards will be in place to prevent people from skiving off work on the pretext that they are breast-feeding....

Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2003 [Seanad]: Referral to Select Committee. (20 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, in accordance with Standing Order 120(1) and paragraph 1(a)(i) of the Orders of Reference of that committee.

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (24 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I really do not know what the problem is and I still cannot see how I can accept the amendment. As I explained on Committee Stage, 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...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (24 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I will have a look at it.

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (24 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: I have a great deal of sympathy with Senator Tuffy's point of view, as I indicated on Committee Stage. For the record, section 34(4) of the Employment Equality Act 1998, which represents the current law, provides that: Without prejudice to subsection (3), it shall not constitute discrimination on the age ground to fix different ages for the retirement (whether voluntarily or compulsorily) of...

Seanad: Equality Bill 2004: Report and Final Stages. (24 Feb 2004)

Willie O'Dea: Senator Phelan wants my support for the principle of equal pay to be stitched into the legislation. On this occasion, he will have to be satisfied with it being placed on the record because I am advised that it is not appropriate to write the principle into primary legislation, nor has it been, to the best of my knowledge, anywhere else. As I stated on Committee Stage, the proposal is...