asked the Minister for Labour if a communication has been received from the Religious Society of Friends expressing its concern that the Government should demonstrate publicly its declared concern for non-violent solutions to national and international problems by ratifying the ILO Convention on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation); and what action the Government proposes to take in the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Society of Friends Communication.
11.
I am aware of the communication to which the Deputy refers.
This country can accept the obligations of the ILO convention concerning the avoidance of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, as far as its provisions relating to race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin are concerned. However, the position as regards the employment of women is not fully in line with certain provisions of the convention, accordingly it has not been possible, up to now, to ratify the convention.
The Government recently considered certain recommendations made by the Commission on the Status of Women. The Minister for Finance, in his budget statement, indicated what it is intended to do as far as public service employment is concerned, but as he pointed out, progress on this front depends on the will of the entire community. The question of ratifying the ILO convention will be examined again in the light of developments.
The Minister for Finance in his budget speech indicated, to our amazement, that equal pay was now a national aim and that marriage bars, et cetera were to be eliminated. The Government have finally accepted that these features were quite discriminatory. They should just sign the convention and ratify it. We would give whatever leeway was necessary in terms of one year or five years to bring the matter finally into line. There is no good reason why the ILO convention should not be signed to bring us into line with other Western European democracies which have all signed and ratfied this convention.
I do not think there is any rush about signing this convention. The matter is very adequately covered in the question. There is no great desire to have it signed. We have taken the signature of ILO conventions as a serious matter. We only appended our signature when we felt that we were justified in so doing.
For 20 years, it has not been signed.