Averil Power (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In his response the Minister of State referred to the Irish Constitution and competing constitutional rights between equality, the individual's right to earn a livelihood, to privacy and other personal rights an individual has as an employee or potential employee, and the right to freedom of religion under Article 44. EU law supersedes our Constitution. That includes the directive I referred to in explaining amendments Nos. 1 and 3. It did include an exemption to provide that member states could continue with previous practices, provided they were in line with EU law and that, in any case, whether the institution is private or public, any discrimination would have to be related to a genuine occupational requirement. The EU directive makes no distinction between public and private organisations. It focuses instead on the role the person performs in the workplace or is applying for. That is more appropriate and it is what EU law requires of us. That is not only my point of view or that of my legal advisers, it was a point made by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, in its report on this legislation.

When I introduced this Bill in 2012 the then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, decided that instead of accepting the Bill he would request IHREC to carry out work on section 37, with a view to informing future Government legislation and to consider each of these issues. IHREC did that and made clear in its report that making a distinction between public and private institutions is not justified. It highlighted EU law in that respect.

I do not accept that the justification in the legislation is fair, and more important, I believe it is repugnant to EU legislation. I urge the Minister of State to reconsider it and to accept these amendments. I accept that in particular posts, be they in private institutions or public ones, there are legitimate reasons for religious organisations to insist that somebody holding a particular position share their religious faith. That is fair enough in particular posts but that is the same, regardless of whether the institution is public or private. To make a blanket distinction between organisations and to give some organisations a licence to discriminate and opt out of the tougher test put in place for public bodies because they do not receive public funding, is unjustified.