Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, to the House. I also welcome this development whereby two Ministers are dealing with a Bill that clearly cuts between two different Departments, which is a welcome initiative. I also welcome to the Visitors Gallery members of groups such as GLEN, Marriage Equality, BeLonGTo and others, which have campaigned for a change in the law. I agree with the sentiments expressed by others. I commend Senator Averil Power on introducing this Bill and on her eloquent contribution on the need for it. We are all agreed that section 37 of the Employment Equality Act as currently drafted is untenable. It is a mandate to discriminate. As stated so eloquently by Senator Zappone, it is an inequality clause which upholds the principle in the appalling judgment in the Eileen Flynn case. Ms Flynn, a teacher at the Holy Faith Convent in New Ross in the mid-1980s, was sacked from her job when she became pregnant outside of marriage. The teaching unions have condemned that principle, enabling a religious-run educational institution to discriminate against a person it believed was undermining its ethos, as untenable in a modern society. It should be repealed. Like Senators Zappone and Norris, I would much prefer that this section be deleted, thus ensuring no exemption from discrimination is afforded to religious run institutions.

I commend Senator Power on taking the initiative in this Bill, which is drafted in a minimalist way and does not cover all people currently facing potential discrimination. Senator Power and I have had many meetings on this issue.