Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here. In late December I received an email from a person called Jennifer Hoey who offered a good observation she made in the course of her own studies, to the effect that in the Equal Status Act 2000, "'sexual orientation' means heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual orientation". In her submission she asks whether it would not be more inclusive to use the terminology "heterosexual and LGBTQ+". That would be more inclusive and in keeping with current thinking and the way matters have evolved since the Act of 2000.

This set me about a bit of research. We updated the Act in 2012 and looked at and included gender and variances of gender so there would not be discrimination on grounds of gender when it came to insurance. Thus, a very discrete provision in the law was introduced by the 2012 Act. That was too narrow to be deemed inclusive. We have the Gender Recognition Act 2015 which, to be fair, will cover an individual who perhaps started work or accessed a service and once they have a gender recognition certificate they are entitled to access all services and have their gender recognised. However, it is similarly specific in its provision. While it is very excellent and a great way of moving forward, it is so specific and so narrow it does not necessarily include other genders and how people identify themselves and self-reference themselves.

I am a practitioner in employment law, so this led me to look at employment equality. The definitions in the Equal Status Act are mirrored in the Employment Equality Act. We have an extra one in the Equal Status Act that has to do with housing. From an employment equality perspective, and having been a practitioner on both sides, that is, with an individual on one side of the table and with an employer on the other side of the table, I know the loopholes and how the arguments have been made. Indeed, I could possibly shamefully say I have exploited them in my career as a barrister.

However, the argument made by Jennifer is very important in that she is pointing at our language evolving and our having a mechanism for language to evolve. We cannot immediately jump, and legislation cannot immediately jump, to respond to something that may evolve again in two years’ time. We cannot be that responsive in our legislation but when we are in here arguing legislation and amendments with Ministers, or in the committees doing pre-legislative scrutiny, when somebody wants something I will sometimes say it is too prescriptive and the law cannot be that prescriptive because it must be anticipating a wider situation.

When the Equal Status Act was written, it anticipated a wider situation but that situation has now evolved again. If we take Jennifer’s suggestion that instead of being prescriptive around the definition of sexual orientation we should include the phrase "heterosexual and LGBTQ+", then we have a context, but one that is also very inclusive. It is a good suggestion and my raising the matter is to ask that we start thinking about this. I have no doubt we already have but it is something we need to think about.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I ask the Minister of State to reply.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach. It is my first time coming before the House with him in the Chair and I wish him all the best in his role.

I thank Senator Seery Kearney for raising this important matter.The discussion today provides a welcome opportunity to provide an update on the progress on the programme for Government commitment to ensure that transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people have explicit protection within equality grounds. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. He would love to have been here because he has done so much work on this subject. He could talk about this matter without the script and he could have an over-and-back debate. I am going to read his script but, as the Senator knows, the Minister is very engaged on this issue.

As Senators will be aware, this commitment is being brought forward as part of a comprehensive review of the Equality Acts under way in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. As I said, this is being led out by the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. Ireland has become a proud, progressive and modern State that supports and cherishes all people equally. We have made great strides in recent decades to promote equality and respond to the changing needs of a diverse population. We have a proud record as a champion of human rights internationally and have been at the vanguard of change in advancing equality for LGBTI+ people. We continue to strive to be at the forefront of real, positive and impactful change in the lives of LGBTI+ communities.

Despite these advances, challenges remain and LGBTI+ people continue to face significant barriers to full participation in public life and experience unacceptable levels of harassment, violence and discrimination. The Government is committed to addressing these barriers, including through commitments under the national LGBTI+ inclusion strategy, which also contains a specific action to review the Employment Equality Acts and Equal Status Acts to ensure that transgender, non-conforming and intersex people have explicit protection within the equality grounds.

The Equality Acts - the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 and the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2015 - are a central pillar in our equality infrastructure. Discrimination is defined as treating one person in a less favourable way than another person based on nine grounds, namely, gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, including colour, nationality or ethnic or national origins, and membership of the Traveller community, with a housing assistance ground also applicable for the Equal Status Acts.

The review of the Equality Acts will include consideration of the scope of existing grounds and whether additional grounds, such as a socio-economic ground, should be considered. The review will also consider the functioning and accessibility of the Acts, whether existing exemptions should be modified or removed and whether the legislation adequately addresses intersectionality. The review of the Equality Acts commenced with a public consultation process which received an extensive response. I do not think any of us would be surprised by that. These submissions are currently being considered by officials and will inform the development of policy and legislative proposals, which the Minister intends to publish by mid-year. A report of the consultation process will be published in the coming weeks. As work on the review is ongoing, it is not possible to give an indication of the approach that will be taken. It is important that any amendments to existing grounds or introduction of new grounds be given detailed legal consideration to ensure the legislation will appropriately address the issues at hand.

Once again, I thank the Senator for bringing this issue before the House and the Cathaoirleach for choosing it.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. Her response addresses an issue on which our equality legislation always needs to lead out, namely, framing language for those who are perhaps a little nervous, cautious or afraid of offence. I am one of those. I am conscious that I am not affected by these aspects, so I am very tender in how I approach my language. This can lead to an uncertainty that could be interpreted as a lack of commitment and, with all my being, that is most certainly not the case. The Minister of State used words like "intersectionality" and framed the language. Our legislation needs to do this as well because this will provide a definition that everybody can embrace and include and that will become the normal discourse in everyday life. I thank the Minister of State. I know that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has done an awful lot in this area and is very progressive. I value this and look forward to the report.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator again. I will convey her views to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. No more than the Senator, the Minister understands legislation, its value and importance and the wording used. He is one Minister I can definitely say reads Bills ad nauseam. He will continue to do that in this case. I will bring the Senator's feedback to him. I look forward to working with her in future.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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As Senator Boylan, who tabled the next Commencement matter, is not present, I propose that the House suspend until she arrives.