Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I welcome Maria McDonald from the Victims Rights Alliance who is in the public Gallery and acknowledge the great work she has done on this issue. I echo colleagues in terms of our disappointment that the Dáil has seen fit to reject an amendment from the Seanad. The Seanad does not often pass amendments to legislation against the Government so it is always disappointing when the Dáil rejects them.

Last night, it was great that the Minister of State said he was the Minister who would be tabling amendments in the Seanad on the gender pay gap Bill, which started life as a Private Members' Bill in the Seanad. I appreciate that it is not his normal practice, nor indeed that of the Minister for Justice and Equality, to reject amendments from the Seanad.

I commend Senator Boyhan on his work. We are all conscious that we need to follow his lead in not pressing the issue further because we do not want to delay the enactment of this important legislation. We recognise that, and the Victims Rights Alliance and other groups would recognise it also.

There may be other ways of dealing with the issue of training. Senator Boyhan touched on the possibility of amending other legislation. There is also the concept of codes of practice or, for example, encouraging the relevant professional bodies to engage in their own training protocols and procedures. Some great work has been done without any need for a statutory basis but through the Judiciary. Under the former Chief Justice, Susan Denham, there was a real increase in levels of judicial training programmes and so on. That is the kind of thing we could encourage if we will not see in this amendment.

I echo Senator Boyhan's words in terms of the independent function of the Director of Public Prosecutions. We have to acknowledge that it is important she is independent in her office.

I welcome this important Bill in the hope that we will see it enacted in full in a very short time.