Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I hope my visit to the House this afternoon will be more productive than my visit here this morning. Before addressing the content of amendments Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, and amendment No. 19, I hope I may be allowed to make one or two brief introductory remarks. We had an unusual Committee Stage and an unusual journey to get to Report Stage. I appreciate that the rules under which we operate on Report Stage may restrict Senators in the contributions they can make. I want to make it clear that I am more than happy to co-operate with Members in terms of recommitting groups of sections, as has been advised to us as the appropriate procedure, to ensure we can have a full discussion on each and every aspect of the Bill and the amendments I am recommending be made to it.

Given the additions I am proposing to the Bill, the Long Title has been amended to reflect these changes, including references to the relevant EU directives, the Pensions Acts 1990 to 2014, the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2012, the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2011 and to matters related thereto. The references to the EU directives will be helpful to my Department in its discussions with the European Commission in relation to our transposition obligations - the point being that part of what we are proposing to do is to make technical changes to the existing equality legislation to reflect in specific areas the evolving jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice, our own courts and the Equality Tribunal in equality law cases. That is the context for amendment No. 1. A Chathaoirleach, will I proceed to deal with amendments Nos. 2, 3 and 19?