Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

By way of assistance, the reference that Senator McDowell is making is to my amendment No. 14(2), which states:

each body that makes nominations -

(a) shall nominate both a man and a woman for appointment by the Government as a member of the Commission.

We have incorporated a provision on gender balance into the overall scheme and provided for it in amendment No. 14. I said the amendment had been debated and I reiterated that I withdrew it in order to resubmit it on Report Stage.

I merely make the point that the reason we oppose section 13 is that we had incorporated a fuller provision on the appointment of members from the barristers and solicitors profession on to the commission, through our amendment No. 14. We contend that our amendment would have rendered this section superfluous because this section provides specifically and only for the appointment of a practising barrister and practising solicitor as members, and it does not include the gender balance reference that I think Senator McDowell was objecting to.