I am pleased to state that the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill passed all Stages in Seanad Éireann, with Report and Final Stages completed on Monday last. I acknowledge the support it received from the various parties and, in particular, the work Deputy Stanton did when he was Minister of State with responsibility in this regard.
We are here to take note of two Government amendments made in the Seanad that required the Bill to be recommitted to this House. These amendments are purely administrative in nature.
On amendment No. 1, the Bill, as passed by the Dáil, provided in section 1, which outlines the various definitions, that "Minister" means “the Minister for Justice and Equality”. Certain functions of the then Minister for Justice and Equality transferred to my Department in October 2020 under Statutory Instrument No. 436/2020. Given where the Bill stood in October 2020, it does not fall within the scope of that statutory instrument and the definition is not automatically read as "the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth" The purpose of the amendment is to change the definition of "Minister" in section 1 to "the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth".