Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I dislike refusing all the Senator's amendments but the difficulty with this amendment is essentially the same as the difficulty with the previous one. Section 16 of the Employment Equality Act 1998 is a complex and specific provision which recognises that additional provision is necessary to protect the rights of people with disabilities. Section 16, as amended in this Bill, will require employers to take appropriate measures in respect of access to and advancement in employment, as well as in respect of training. Unfortunately, that obligation, even under the amended legislation today which flows from the EU framework employment directive, is not open-ended. There is a limit to it. It no longer becomes an obligation at the point at which it becomes an unreasonable burden on them. The advice I have is that inserting this sub-section, however desirable it might appear, would pose the same problem as caused me not to accept the previous amendment.