Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for amendments Nos. 41 to 43, inclusive. The posts of commissioner and executive chair of Coimisiún na Meán will be vitally important. They will collectively constitute an coimisiún itself and ultimately be responsible for the decisions that it will take. It is important to note at the outset that the commissioners are not simply equivalent to board members. They will be fulfilling executive functions and will be considered employees of an coimisiún. As such, the provisions of employment law apply to these appointments. This is a model adopted from other regulators in the State, such as ComReg and Commission for Regulation of Utilities.

I understand that each of the amendments are based broadly on the provisions of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 which relate to the appointment of members of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. However, the more appropriate comparator for the commissioner roles in an coimisiún would be the director rather than the members of IHREC.

On amendment No. 41, as I previously stated on Committee Stage, I do not think it appropriate to set out a non-exhaustive set of knowledge or expertise required for an coimisiún. Matters pertaining to the selection criteria are best addressed within the context of the recruitment process run by the Public Appointments Service. Accordingly, I am not accepting this amendment.

I have previously addressed the point raised in amendment No. 43 during Committee Stage a number of times. As I noted then, the duty set out in section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Act 2014 is already binding on public bodies, and I do not see the relevance or merit of singling out any single UN convention unless absolutely appropriate to do. Accordingly I am not accepting this amendment.

On amendment No. 42, I did consider amendments proposed on Committee Stage which aimed to achieve a gender balance among commissioners, which is something I fully support in principle. The legal advice my Department received was that providing for the membership of a minimum number of women on Coimisiún na Meán, as envisaged by the proposed amendments, would be contrary to section 8 of the Employment Equality Acts, 1998-2015, as it may lead to discrimination on the grounds of gender. This Act prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee or prospective employee in relation to access to employment, which includes the recruitment process, and Article 14(1)(a) of directive 2006/54/EC, which provides for the equal treatment of men and women in terms of, among other things, access to employment.

The specialist nature of the commissioner posts, for example the online safety commissioner, is such that each post will be recruited individually, rather than as a part of a panel of commissioners. Accordingly, a requirement in law for a minimum number of women, or indeed men, in commissioner posts would compel the Public Appointments Service, at some point, to advertise a post open only to candidates of a particular gender, depending on the composition of the commission at any one time. This would be contrary to the Employment Equality Acts, 1998 – 2015. Accordingly, I cannot accept amendment No. 42.