I move amendment No. 6: In page 5, line 11, to delete "may" and substitute "shall".

These amendments seek to create more peremptory language on the regulations, and that regulations shall prescribe the form and manner in which information is to be published. Again, it is to address the issue I raised on Committee Stage. This is very much a facilitative Bill and does not provide very much by way of detail as to how the regulations will take effect, what duties will be on employers and how the pay transparency guidelines will be enforced. The Minister mentioned the lack of detail in my proposed amen…

I thank the Minister but I respectfully disagree. Section 20A, as he Minister said, sets out the content of the information and it is great that we have this clarity but the lack of clarity I am referring to is about how it is to be conveyed. Let me put these questions. Will it be on a website? The Minister clarified on Committee Stage that the information would be generated on our website. Who will administer this website? Will it be a central website? Will it be individual websites of employers? My next amendment…

I move amendment No. 7: In page 5, line 22, to delete "may" and substitute "shall".

I move amendment No. 8: In page 5, line 23, after "manner" to insert "(which shall include, if the employer concerned maintains a website, publication on that website)".

This amendment is related to amendments Nos. 6 and 7 and later amendment No. 9, in which we are seeking to establish a little more detail and clarity on how the legislation will take effect. I thank the Minister for confirming that there will be a centralised website. My question is in regard to who will administer that website. Under whose auspices or remit will it fall? Will it be Revenue, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, or some other organisation? I ask the Minister to confirm what body or authority wil…

I thank the Minister for his response. If I understand correctly, the website will be under the remit of his Department, although there is still a lack of clarity on that. I was struck by the fact that, as a colleague has pointed out, while it will be this Minister making the regulations, the Bill provides for whoever the Minister is to have the power make regulations. There may be too much flexibility as to the shape and form of the regulations and different Ministers may interpret the provisions very differently …

I move amendment No. 9: In page 5, lines 23 and 24, to delete “(which shall not be more frequent than once in each year)” and substitute “(which shall be at least annually)”.

The same principle underpins this amendment. It seeks to establish a little more clarity as to the detail of the process by which employers will publish information. Again, the current wording is rather vague. It reads "which shall not be more frequent than once in each year". We are saying that it should be "at least annually". This would give employers and workers alike a little more clarity.

I move amendment No. 10: In page 5, line 27, after “relates” to insert “and their recognised trade union or staff association (if any)”.

We have debated this already.

I move amendment No. 12: In page 11, line 7, after “request.” to insert “This subsection is without prejudice to the entitlement of the Commission to exercise its powers under this section in any such case of its own motion.”.

This amendment speaks to the enforcement powers, a crucial aspect of the Bill. I was initially somewhat critical of this. Our original Bill had provided for more extensive enforcement and accountability powers through building on the legislative framework for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC. While I welcome the fact that section 5 of the Government Bill will give a role in enforcement to IHREC, through this amendment we want to ensure that IHREC would retain the power to exercise its own power…

I thank the Minister for confirming again that IHREC will retain the power to intervene of its own accord and of its own motion. That is very important. It may prove to be very important in ensuring the legislation's effectiveness in the future. When drafting our own Bill on the gender pay gap four or five years ago, the Bill introduced in this House in May 2017, we were very conscious that we wanted to build on existing statutory equality frameworks. That is why we drafted our Bill as amending legislation to the I…

Now.

I thank the Acting Chairperson and welcome him to his new role as Chair of the Seanad. It is a good day to take over, when we are passing this important Bill. I thank the Minister for his efficient steering of the Bill through the legislative process and for his courteous and full responses. It has been good to work with him and with all colleagues in the House on this important legislation. It is four years since the Labour Party introduced the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank her for coming in, on foot of a request I made last week to the Leader of the Seanad, to have this important debate. I ask her to relay our concerns back to the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, as I know she will. This has been a long saga. We have seen many years of obfuscation, Byzantine legal deliberations and much lack of clarity. Nobody denies the need for a new maternity hospital and we are all agreed it should be co-located with an adult acute service. …

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and welcome this urgent and practical Bill. Clearly, it is important that we have certainty and clarity in the law around outdoor hospitality for licensed premises. It simply was not good enough, either for the Garda or for those running such premises, to be told that it would be left to the discretion of gardaí. Nor, indeed, was it good for those seeking to partake of outdoor hospitality. My party welcomes the Bill. We would like to facilitate its passage. It is urgent,…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to the House. I am pleased to speak for the Labour Party on the annual renewal motions. Like other colleagues, I have spoken for a number of years now on these motions as they come before us. I also have a particular interest in this, having practised for several years in the Special Criminal Court in different trials as a defence practitioner. While I am not opposing the renewal, I am, and have been, very critical of various aspects of the framework of the offences against…

I call for an urgent debate on the future of the new national maternity hospital. I was one of the Oireachtas Members who attended the cross-party briefing with the Minister for Health last week at which it became apparent that proposals for the State to buy the site had been rejected. The situation has moved on over the weekend, however, and there have been further reports, including some contradictory ones. At this point, we need clarification on what exactly has been happening as regards the site's ownership. I …