Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 4, line 22, after “class A fine.” to insert the following:“Those deemed to be repeatedly in breach of the provisions contained within a scheme may be subject to multiple class A fines; with the name of the company being added to a public database of repeat offenders.”.

This amendment would make repeat offenders subject to multiple class A fines, as well as giving the Department the ability to publish the name of the company publicly for being in direct breach of the legislation on multiple occasions. Companies take matters such as this seriously when there is a threat of being exposed publicly. However, I also question whether the threat of a fine is worth the paper on which it is written when faced with the decision to opt in or out of such a scheme or face a potential fine. The companies that already know that there is a gender pay gap will run a mile, making this legislation pointless.Sinn Féin backs the spirit of the Bill entirely, but on its practicality, if it became law, there are serious and simplistic errors in it, as it stands. I will not push the amendments to a vote today, but I reserve the right to reintroduce them on Report Stage. I hope Senators Ivana Bacik and Gerald Nash will take this and some of the other things we pointed out on board and have them incorporated in the Bill.