Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Bacik on bringing this Bill before the House. Fianna Fáil fully supports this Bill. As the Senator has outlined, the aim of the legislation is to address the small number of cases where retired employees who were legally not permitted to marry persons of the same sex before a particular date may be deprived of certain pension benefits. The Bill follows on foot of the case Parris v.Trinity College Dublin that highlighted an anomaly in Irish pensions law. I commend Dr. Parris on the matter. It is no mean feat to challenge an institution of this State. To do so, he bravely put his home on the line.I commend him on taking that step and on highlighting this anomaly and I commend Senator Bacik on bringing this Bill before the House.

Given that Ireland has made significant strides in recognising LGBT rights, it is essential that we continue to address anomalies in current legislation which directly and indirectly discriminate against the LGBT community and ensure that there is equality of treatment and fairness across the board. We must ensure that legislation reflects the recognition of marriage equality and civil partnerships. Not only has an anomaly been pointed out in respect of this issue but there is a serious gender gap anomaly in private and public pensions. I hope the Minister will take this on board. There are small things he could do such as backdating the homemaker's disregard to ensure that women who are particularly disenfranchised and do not get the full State contributory pension are not discriminated against. It would be a great thing for the Minister to ensure that women are treated equally and their work history or employment stamps do not result in their being treated in an unequal way.