Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State. On the question of women in politics, it is my experience that one is not generally discriminated against in politics. I accept what was said in the past few days was inappropriate and old-fashioned but that is not the rule. My party encourages women to become involved in politics and to put themselves forward as candidates. My experience in the Labour Party as a candidate, a councillor and a Senator has been, in the main, positive.

To encourage more women to become involved in politics we need to promote politics as a career and improve its image to ensure that both men and women, who do not consider politics as a worthwhile career, would reconsider that view. That is one approach.

A survey was done recently by an academic who surveyed women practising as councillors, Deputies and so on. The overwhelming response was that they did not experience discrimination. Their general view was that they were not discriminated against as practising politicians but that other issues to improve women's experience of politics needed to be addressed. We mentioned one of those when we talked about maternity protection in that facilities needed to be provided to parents to allow them participate in the workforce.

I welcome the Bill and the fact that consultation took place beforehand, as mentioned by the Minister of State. The Minister also mentioned ground-breaking and far-sighted legislation. I would like to claim some credit for that on behalf of the Labour Party because it was the Labour Party which first raised this issue in its 1992 manifesto and in the subsequent Government. I am aware there were problems with the legislation we introduced but it started the ball rolling.

Many of the changes in the Bill are welcome, including the provision regarding discrimination by virtue of association, the provision regarding motor vehicle insurance, the change regarding those under 18 and the statutory school leaving age, and the broadening of the provision regarding accommodation for employees with disability. On that point, much more needs to be done. For example, a recent report in The Irish Times stated that disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as the rest of the population according to the Government's own think-tank.

A particular area for criticism is the public service because it has failed to achieve a target of employing 3% of disabled workers agreed 27 years ago. The Minister mentioned the constitutional impediment. If there is a constitutional impediment we need to do something to address it. The public service in particular needs to show the way and we need to do much more proactive work to ensure that people with disabilities, and the other categories of people who are discriminated against, are not discriminated against in the workplace.

The extension of protection to self-employed people who are on contracts and their partners is welcome because so much of our employment now is on a contract basis. Many of the multinational companies are making their employees redundant and then re-hiring them on a different contract. People in those circumstances need to be protected.

I want to mention in particular discrimination against older people. There has been some progress in this legislation but much more needs to be done. The Equality Authority's 2002 annual report stated that the fourth largest category of complaints concerned age-related discrimination. The Equality Authority's report, Implementing Equality for Older People, found widespread ageism in our system, and it has made a number of recommendations, as have other bodies such as the National Council for Older People. We need to give priority to this area. People are living longer and have much potential as they get older but we are not using that potential to the best advantage. That is not good for the economy.

Our attitude to older people in society is terrible. One of the cases the Equality Authority dealt with involved a 77 year old man who was turned away from a bar. Another case involved a woman of 29 years of age and a woman of 36 years of age who were turned away from a bar because they were considered too old for the image of the premises. That is an ugly side of Irish society. There is a need for more positive action to try to prevent such incidents. While it is not provided for in the legislation, we should look at prohibiting the fixing of compulsory retirement age in the future. That should be the next step following this legislation. Those who want to work after the age of 65 should be able to choose whether to do so. Their choice to do that should be protected in legislation.

Obviously other things need to be done that relate to older people and other groups. More needs to be done to promote more flexible working arrangements because older people may want to take advantage of that and it may suit their lifestyles. There is a need for a better life-work balance. That would take into account the needs and wishes of other groups in society such as parents. This is the type of area that needs to be looked at.

The largest category dealt with by the Equality Authority concerned those cases that dealt with discrimination on grounds of gender. While progress is being made in our legislation, much more needs to be done. As has been mentioned, the Government needs to lead by example and to improve its record on the appointment of women to State boards.

I stated previously when debating the maternity protection legislation that more needs to be done about parents' rights, paternity rights and parental leave. Ireland is way behind many other EU countries in that regard. That persons can be discriminated against on grounds of race is a growing issue here. In the 2002 report of the Equality Authority, this was the second largest category of complaints. In its literature, the Equality Authority suggests we look at underpinning rights for those who could be discriminated against on grounds of race, by means of legislation similar to what we have tried to do for those with disabilities.

While the Government is putting in place this forward-looking legislation, the same Department, through the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has introduced legislation which has introduced many backward steps in terms of our approach to equality. The Intoxicating Liquor Act means that certain categories of people have to go to the courts instead of, as heretofore, to the Equality Tribunal. Pubs are allowed to discriminate on grounds of age, and generally impose an age limit for younger people. The culture, whereby people are discriminated against on these grounds, is being allowed to creep back in.