merrion street

The proposed amendment will safeguard the rights of LGBT and single parent teachers

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D. has warmly welcomed the taking of Committee Stage in the Seanad today of the Employment Equality (Amendment) (No.2) Bill 2013.

This proposed piece of legislation provides an amendment to Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act which will ensure that schools or hospitals with a religious ethos or patron can no longer op-out on anti-discrimination laws.

Up until now, such schools or hospitals could exercise a provision in the act which permitted an exclusion from elements of the Equality legislation for institutions who have a religious ethos. Effectively, it allowed for the discrimination of employees or prospective employees whose sexuality or family status did not conform with the religious ethos of the institution.

The amendment to the Bill, proposed by Labour Senators in the Seanad, aims to end this opt out. The commitment to do so forms part of the Programme for Government, which states that "People of non-faith or minority religious backgrounds and publicly identified LGBT people should not be deterred from training or taking up employment as teachers in the state."

Minister Quinn said, “After too long, we are making progress on this vital piece of legislation. I believe that this amendment will go a long way to removing the climate of fear from many of our LGBT teachers and allow them to be open about who they are and who they love without fearing the implications this may have on their jobs or their prospect of getting a job.”

“Ireland has changed dramatically over recent decades and we are a much more open, tolerant and diverse society. All political parties are united in the need to stamp out discrimination against our teachers. And our laws should reflect that.”

“I want to commend Senator Ivana Bacik for introducing this Bill and also Minister Alan Shatter for driving the changes.”