I welcome this Bill and the opportunity to speak on this important topic. As we know, a climate emergency was declared by the Dáil in 2019 so all of us are very aware of the pressing urgency of tackling the climate emergency at national and international level. We have all seen the impact of the increasing number of extreme weather events on people across the world, including our own communities. We know we need to act in solidarity with other countries and communities but also to be mindful of the impact on our do…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, line 21, to delete “as soon as is reasonably practicable” and substitute “immediately”. This is in a similar vein to amendment No. 3 in the name of Senator Higgins. It has a clear meaning and rationale in keeping with my speech on Second Stage. I welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome the opportunity to debate Committee Stage of this important Bill. I am delighted to see it being expedited. As the amendment suggests, we want to see it brought into law swiftly. We want t…

I thank the Minister for his clear response and for his indication that he intends to have the regulations in place by the end of 2021. That is very welcome. As I have said, there is immense concern, despite the use of the phrase "as soon as is reasonably practicable", that there have been many delays since May 2017 when we introduced our Labour Party Bill. We want to ensure more clarity as to when the regulations will come into force. This is not just coming from Opposition Senators; it is coming from many other s…

I think we all know we agreed the amendment would be pressed. I do not want to catch anyone out.

I withdraw the amendment in light of the Minister’s response.

Our amendment No. 5 in this group seeks to do something similar, to ensure we capture the most pertinent data to form a comprehensive picture of the extent and nature of the gender pay gap. We believe the wording in amendment No. 5 is more suitable because it recognises it is not sufficient to compare just part-time men and part-time women workers. We know those working fewer hours suffer a basic earnings, bonus, career progression and, later, a pension penalty relative to full-time workers over the course of their…

I will speak on amendment No. 5. Noting Senator O'Reilly's point, it is important when we quote these figures, as I did, from the CSO on the breakdown between men and women working part-time that clearly nobody is judging any decision to work part-time or otherwise. We have to be cognisant, however, that people make decisions and circumstances not of their choosing. Where there is a very clear gender divide, and where 29% of all women in the labour force work part-time compared with 11% of men, it does require legi…

I move amendment No. 5: In page 4, to delete lines 13 to 18 and substitute the following: “(v) the difference between the mean hourly remuneration of part-time employees of the female gender and that of— (I) part-time employees of the male gender, and (II) full-time employees of the male gender,expressed in each case as a percentage; (vi) the difference between the median hourly remuneration of part-time employees of the female gender and that of— (I) part-time employees of the male gender, and (II) full-time emplo…

I move amendment No. 9: In page 4, to delete line 25. These three amendments are interlinked and all seek to do the same thing. They would add another element to section 20A, one which we feel it is currently missing, by making reference to trade union involvement in drawing together gender pay gap data and devising remedial action plans or measures to tackle pay discrepancies on grounds of gender. We are simply making reference to collective agreements within the amendments. We hope that by doing so, the Bill woul…

I thank the Minister for that very full response and for his nice words to the gentleman in Sandymount. Of course, I would love to be able to continue this work elsewhere and I certainly would not stop doing it if I were fortunate enough to succeed in the by-election. If I was not in the Seanad, I would of course be out talking with people in Sandymount, Ringsend and everywhere else across Dublin Bay South but I am delighted to be here to debate these important amendments. I take the Minister's point about the dire…

I move amendment No. 11: In page 4, to delete line 34 and substitute the following: “employer’s case, and (d) employers who are party to a collective agreement negotiated with a recognised trade union or staff association to consult with the trade union or staff association concerned both prior to and following upon the publication of the information referred to in this section.”.

I move amendment No. 13: In page 4, to delete lines 38 to 41, and in page 5, to delete lines 1 to 10 and substitute the following: “(3) Regulations made under this section shall not apply to an employer having fewer than 20 employees.”. These are the amendments seeking to lower the threshold at which the legislation will apply to different organisations. I spoke on Second Stage about this and I am using the Minister's own term when I refer to the long incubation it has had. Given that long incubation period, and th…

I thank the Minister for his response. I would always defer to Senator Sherlock on matters of statistics. Her figures are from 2018, so I am sure the Minister arrived at 65% of employers and at that point the threshold of 50 employees would have captured 57.5% of all employees. That may well have gone up, as the Minister said, to 65%. The point is this will only be the case once the legislation is fully in force with the threshold at 50 employees, which will take some time based on the incremental approach. Our arg…

I move amendment No. 22: In page 5, line 11, to delete “may” and substitute “shall”. I will speak to amendments Nos. 22 and 24 and I referred to this matter on Second Stage. These amendments seek to substitute "shall" for "may" in two instances, in section 20A(4) and section 20A(5). It is an attempt to address the lack of specificity in the provisions, which provide that regulations "may" prescribe a number of matters but do not set out any requirement that the regulations would prescribe, for example: "the classes…

Certainly, we will all be very anxious to know what is in the regulations. That is clear. It would be helpful to have more clarity on it. I will not press the amendment at this stage. I will withdraw it and reserve the right to reintroduce it at a later stage.

I move amendment No. 24: In page 5, line 22, to delete “may” and substitute “shall”. I will withdraw the amendment.

I move amendment No. 25: 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, which is drafted in the same spirit as amendments Nos. 22 and 24, seeks to ensure there is greater clarity about what will be prescribed in the regulations. We have specified the manner of publication "shall include, if the employer concerned maintains a website, publication on that website". The Minister said something about the i…

Briefly, given the long incubation period, there is a slight concern still that there is not greater clarity. One would assume there will be a centralised website. That seems to be the model elsewhere in most other jurisdictions, where it is not only a requirement that employers would publish on their own website, which adds to the administrative burden on employers, particularly once we get to the employers with 50 or more employees rather than the really large employers. We suggested employers would publish on we…

I move amendment No. 26: 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 legislation provides that it will "not be more frequent than once in each year". We are putting it somewhat differently with "at least annually" to give greater clarity. We would like to hear from the Minister. I believe he indicated that it would be an annual requirement.

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