Ms Clare Daly:

I do not know the answer to that. That is the short answer. It strikes me that is a bigger problem for Ireland rather than the EU if it is dragging its heels. The issue of gender equality and equal pay is key and links into the other question raised earlier, which Ms Fitzgerald dealt with. She did not get a chance to mention the area of tackling poverty because how can someone have any equal rights at all if they do not have a roof over their head or they have no stability? That is why the points made by Senator Higgins earlier about fiscal rules and so on are so important. You never hear the word "austerity" in the EU, not because there are no austerity policies, but because the word invokes such hostility because of what happened after the banking crash that they do not like to use it. They have taken it on board with the recovery plan. There are measures there that will soften the blow but it might come back full circle when they ask for the money to be repaid.

The short answer is that I do not know about the directive, but we can find out. However, if we want equality, tackling poverty at all levels has to be the first starting point. That means having social rights enshrined, and not only fundamental rights. That might not really answer that question.