I thank the Minister of State for attending the House today. He is always very welcome. The WRC and the Labour Court are to be fully commended. They are fantastic bodies and under their previous guises as the Labour Relations Commission have done a great job and are certainly there as the barrier towards stopping poor employment practices and outing the abuse of employees. I welcome the decision of the Supreme Court and our quick response to it. This emboldens, widens the scope of and strengthens the powers of the …

What can I say? Much has been said here today, as well as in the Dáil. I have read over the debate on this Bill in the Dáil and I have no doubt that during Committee and Report Stages in this House much will be said to create misinformation, spin and nice little sound bites to be posted on social media about the LDA, which will not do anything to advance real people getting into real houses. The Government is working together and ensuring people have affordable and social housing in the two great pieces of legislat…

We received a submission this morning from the National Taxi Forum requesting we discuss the plight of taxi drivers. I am in regular contact with a group and with one of my constituents, Peter Jarvis. Those in the group have said there are few if any international travellers and little if any shopping or social life. Everything that would have provided support for taxi drivers is gone. While we have provided them with the pandemic unemployment payment, and that has been a lifeline and has been very much acknowledge…

The Minister has made all the relevant points. To have a threshold of fewer than 20 employees at this point would be unduly onerous. It is not necessary just now. Having said that, it will be a very valuable aspect to examine in the four-year review of the legislation and how it is rolling out. I reassure Senator Byrne that the Employment Equality Act 1998 does not allow any discrimination on the basis of gender. Equally, given that there is a greater prevalence of part-time work among women, the Protection of Empl…

I have some sympathy for the proposal made by Senator Bacik but the wording "if they maintain a website" is not practical when so many industries are living completely on LinkedIn and do not have websites. In the age of social media, where they are present, it is too precise. However, the point regarding who will maintain it is an important one. I would like to think that a presence on a centralised website, as described by the Minister, would be pointed to for reputational enhancement as well as the actual effect …

The Minister is very impartial here.

This is a momentous day. I congratulate everyone for the initiatives on this issue and for all of the work over the last years. On a day like today, with the background of the battle of the barristers of Dublin Bay South, we should also note that outside of employment legislation, there are areas where women work where they migrate to the more poorly remunerated roles. My own profession, law, is one of them. There are sections of society where women are still poorly paid. Those who earn more tend to be where the me…

Has the Bill passed? I was expecting the Acting Chairperson to stand up. It is the point at which I always feel we should cheer and clap.

I see. That is very good. I thank the Acting Chairperson.

The Acting Chairperson is being denied his moment of glory.

I thank the Minister of State for taking the statements. The ideal would be that we already owned the site and we already owned everything about the co-located hospital and were able to build our national maternity hospital unfettered from having to negotiate with anybody else other than developers and keeping them in check. In this instance, who do we trust? Given the legacy of the religious in the care of women and children in the State, I certainly do not trust the religious orders. This has been overwhelmingly …

This exchange is going backwards and forwards.

The Minister is not accepting the amendment and there are other Senators who would like to speak.

Amendments Nos. 27 to 30, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I ask the Senator Higgins kindly to speak through the Chair, please.

Did Senator Moynihan want to come in?

Amendment No. 32 has already been discussed with amendment No. 11.

Amendment No. 33 and amendment No. 40 are related and may be discussed together, by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Amendments Nos. 34 to 39, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

Is Senator Warfield pressing the amendment?