Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am indeed and that shows what real liberalism is about. I strongly support Senator Bacik's Bill and the ideas that lie behind it. It seems to me that if we were talking about any other categorisation of citizens, such as colour, religion or whatever, there would not be any argument at all about such a provision. When it comes to gender, we are told that in that context, there are reasons why inequality is explicable. I fully accept that there are social and demographic reasons whereby some women will opt in or out of the workforce on a different basis compared to men. It strikes me that this legislation is well capable of taking those matters into account.

I want to express disappointment that the Minister of State, Deputy David Stanton, came in here and said, effectively, that this required consultation. This Government has been in office for a little over a year yet it has not started the consultation process. It is already in the latter half of its probable existence. When is all this going to happen? It is very easy to come into this House and say that one will not oppose a Bill, especially if one does not propose doing anything further about it. I believe that there is a very strong case for having factual information made available by large-scale employers in Ireland so that the onus is on them and a culture is created of requiring them to be equal in their pay policies towards women. The factors that Senator Mullen has referred to can easily be taken into account but do not justify the maintenance of an unequal payroll outcome in society.