Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate where Senator Hoey is coming from in outlining this issue. However, I share Senator McDowell's concerns. The amendment proposes to insert: "references to the improvement of diversity shall be construed to include improvement of representation of persons or classes...". How could that be done without having to ask each individual applicant in the interview process about his or her sexual orientation, religious belief or civil status? I am not sure that is where we want to be. It is obviously clearly set out in the Equal Status Act, which is there to protect people who may be disadvantaged because of one of these characteristics.

The commission needs to set out a diversity statement within a period of time afterwards clearly stating that it should reflect the diversity of the population but also taking into account, as Senator Ward has said, a person's competence and all the other factors. For that reason, I cannot accept the amendment. I understand the logic behind it but the consequences of the commission having to show that people were not disadvantaged would mean that it would need to go through this list and potentially ask people of their status which I do not believe is the intended consequence here.