Averil Power (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 4 and 11 to amendment No. 13 would essentially require an institution which was seeking to rely on the exemption provided in section 37(1) to publish its ethos in writing. It is only reasonable and fair that those who could potentially be penalised for undermining that ethos be aware of what exactly it is. My objective is to provide clarity on these issues as many of them are open to argument. Different people have different views on what an institution's ethos might or might not be.

I note with interest that the Irish Episcopal Conference document to which I referred, Share the Good News, requires Catholic schools to write down their ethos. The directions given to schools in the document are quite detailed and comprehensive, even requiring schools to run courses on their ethos in order to make staff aware of it. If the Catholic church requires schools to write down their ethos, I do not see why there should be an issue with us requiring such documents to be published. It is in the interests of both the employer and the employee that everybody should know where he or she stands. If employees are being asked to respect a particular ethos, they should know exactly what it involves and where the line is in order that they do not step over it inadvertently. Senator Katherine Zappone's amendment essentially seeks to do the same thing.