I thank Senators for their contributions. I agree with most of what has been said. It is true that there should not be discrimination against women in any form. It is also true that there should not be discrimination against women in the rules of any club. I fully concur with that.
I know a good deal more about this than people might realise. My late mother, having become a member of Kerry County Council after my father's death in 1964, was involved in politics at a time when such involvement was not fashionable. Together with the wonderful former Senator and Deputy for Kerry North, Kit Ahern, she was one of only two women ever to serve as chairperson of Kerry County Council. She was also the first woman president of a chamber of commerce. I understand the position and I fully appreciate what has been said.
When we introduced the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act, the linchpin of both was that there would not be discrimination on grounds of gender. That was made perfectly clear and, happily, that is the case today. It has led to a position where only two golf clubs, which is regrettable, exclude women from being members. As Senator O'Rourke so eloquently said, it is not a micro issue but a macro issue. I fully subscribe to that view.
The Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act were both referred to the Supreme Court for examination. It was the intention that the sanction for a breach of the Equal Status Act would be more severe than it is. A breach of the Equal Status Act results in the licence of the club concerned being forfeited and the loss of its certificate of registration. It was the intention to ensure that the sanction would be more severe than that. However, this would not be constitutionally permissible on the advice which was available. That immediately creates a difficulty.
It is true that, under the Equal Status Act, there is provision for an exemption from the terms of the legislation in so far as they apply to discriminating on gender or any other grounds. One of those exemptions relates to a club which is for the use of one gender. It is not a matter for me nor for anybody here to interpret the legislation; that is a matter for the courts. I could not say at this point what way such a case would go. Prima facie, there is no doubt in my mind that to exclude people from a club on the grounds of gender alone seems discriminatory. The question as to whether a court would hold that the exemption applies would be a matter for the court.
The spirit of what Senator Henry has put forward must be acknowledged as being sound, sensible and proper. She acknowledged that the terminology she proposed, while well drafted, might not be a panacea. The difficulty is how to proceed from here. I asked the representatives of the members of Portmarnock Golf Club to call to see me and I had a discussion with them. I outlined to them the views expressed in this House and I also explained to them that I anticipated that a number of other high profile politicians would speak out against their practices. They understood this. I also outlined to the representatives my personal views and preferences. I made it plain to them that it would be my preference that they would lift the rule on not allowing women to be members of the club. I happily reiterate that sentiment.
If we proceed with Senator Henry's amendment – she has acknowledged the difficulty in this – we would insert into legislation dealing with a national tourism authority a provision dealing with equality. Aside from the appropriateness of doing that, there is a difficulty in terms of the practicalities. If the measure was inserted into the legislation, it would mean that every time the National Tourism Development Authority was going to making a grant available, it would have to conduct inquiries as to whether the body to which or person or persons to whom it was making the grant available was guilty of discrimination. It would be virtually impossible to do so. It would be a different matter if the body, person or persons had been held to be behaving in a discriminatory manner, but everybody will immediately recognise the major problem of the National Tourism Development Authority deciding in advance of any court case whether discrimination was being practised. The National Tourism Development Authority is not a court and could not be empowered to make a decision of that sort.
The next issue which arises, in the context of Senator Henry's amendment, is whether, if discrimination had occurred and had not been corrected, it would be possible to provide that the National Tourism Authority could not make a grant available. On the face of it, that seems to be possible, but a further difficulty arises in that the appropriateness of a sanction such as that has not been held to be in accord with the Constitution.
During the passage of the Equal Status Act through the Dáil I remember the major difficulties that arose in relation to the sanctions and their subsequent formulation. The reason we proceeded with the sanction of forfeiting the licence was that many clubs would not be financially viable if they were to lose the licence attached to their premises. Unfortunately and even though they are a minority, there are also clubs which could survive without licences.
I support the sentiments behind what had been said. The difficulty which remains is that of formulating a methodology whereby the sentiment can be expressed in legal terminology and be effective and practical. I will give further consideration to the matter. I cannot, for the reasons outlined, recommend that Senator Henry's amendment be passed, but I hasten to add that what she and Senators O'Rourke, Mansergh, Dardis, White, John Paul Phelan, McCarthy and others said in relation to this matter is perfectly sound.
To be fair, it was never the intention of Bord Fáilte to fund clubs guilty of discrimination. The intention is to fund a major event, the Irish Open, in the sporting calendar. Golf earns €140 million for the economy, 406 golf courses are affiliated to the Golfing Union of Ireland, 220,000 visitors are attracted to the country to play golf and we have a higher proportion of great golf links courses than any other country in the world. The Irish Open is broadcast to 90 countries and has a cumulative television audience of 200 million. Bord Fáilte's intention was to ensure that the Irish Open would continue.
It is also fair to say that we have been extremely fortunate in gaining a sponsor of the stature of Nissan Ireland for the Irish Open. I assure Senators that it was never the intention of that company to support anything other than the Irish Open. For that, I express my gratitude.
It would be churlish of me were I not to acknowledge the fact that Portmarnock Golf Club opened its gates to the Irish Open and has, oddly enough, hosted the national women's championship on a number of occasions.
I support the thrust of Senator Henry's amendment and I hope I have explained the position sufficiently. If I have not, it is because I cannot put it any better than I have.