Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

This amendment to section 44 of the Act of 1998 is proposed to enable the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, to remunerate the board of the Equality Authority. In recent years, social-type boards such as the authority have been brought within the sphere of such payments, and I propose to include the Equality Authority in this category.