Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, line 21, to delete “as soon as is reasonably practicable” and substitute “immediately”.

This is in a similar vein to amendment No. 3 in the name of Senator Higgins. It has a clear meaning and rationale in keeping with my speech on Second Stage.

I welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome the opportunity to debate Committee Stage of this important Bill. I am delighted to see it being expedited. As the amendment suggests, we want to see it brought into law swiftly. We want to be constructive on Committee Stage and not impede the Bill's passage. However, as I stated on Second Stage, we are concerned about the extensive delays between the original discussion on the introduction of gender pay gap legislation and the point at which we are getting to debate this Bill on Committee Stage. The Minister agrees that the delay is most unfortunate. Most of it occurred before his time as Minister. Since there has been such a long gap between when I introduced Labour's gender pay gap Bill some years ago and this stage, I am tabling amendment No. 2. It seeks to bring the legislation into effect swiftly. Rather than saying that the Minister shall "as soon as is reasonably practicable after the commencement" make the necessary regulations, the Bill would read "immediately after the commencement".

On Second Stage, I was critical of the lack of specificity in the Bill as to what the regulations would provide. I would love to hear more from the Minister as to how exactly the Bill will take effect. It is a facilitative or enabling Bill. The Minister is nodding. That is the language of it and there is nothing wrong with that, but people, particularly employers and employees, need to know what the provisions will prescribe. What specific information will employers have to publish, in what format and to whom? All of this detail is still absent from the text of the Bill.

At the very least, we could have more clarity and certainty as to when the Bill will come into effect. In the years since I introduced Labour's Bill in May 2017, I have spoken at numerous events run by employers, HR practices, trade unions and workers' organisations at which I have been told that organisations are ready for this legislation, have been preparing for it for some time and want to see it come into effect. I do not see why we need a delay after commencement. The Bill's commencement is dealt with in section 7 and has the usual provision that the Act will not come into operation until the Minister orders so. Inevitably, there will be a delay between the passing of the Bill and its commencement. What I do not want to see is a further delay after commencement until these crucial regulations are published. That is why I am moving this amendment. Senator Higgins is seeking to do something similar - my amendment calls for "immediately" and hers "within three months" of commencement. Our amendments are to the same effect, in that we want to provide greater clarity and certainty and to avoid further unnecessary delays.