Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

While I have a certain sympathy for the sentiments expressed by the Senator, the position is that, under the Constitution and in accordance with a decision of the Supreme Court, one cannot oblige an employer to take any measures to accommodate people with disabilities if they would impose more than a nominal cost. In this legislation, we have been able to move away from the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution with regard to employment legislation because of the EU framework employment directive, which allows us to shift from "nominal cost" to "disproportionate burden", but no further.

Unfortunately, the amendment goes further and, as such, is impossible to accept. In the first instance, I do not believe the Attorney General would agree to it and it would also be unconstitutional. As I stated, the EU framework employment directive enables us to go further than the interpretation of the Supreme Court in this context. Legally, however, we cannot go further than provided for in the legislation.