I move:
That, notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders—
(1) a Special Committee consisting of five members of Seanad Éireann be appointed, to be joined with a Special Committee to be appointed by Dáil Éireann, to form the Joint Committee on Gender Equality;
(2) the Joint Committee shall consider the recommendations contained in the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality, together with the response of the Government to each such recommendation, having regard to the open letter to the Oireachtas contained in that report;
(3) members of either House, not being members of the Joint Committee, may attend and take part in proceedings of the Joint Committee, or any sub-Committee thereof, but without having a right to vote or to move motions or amendments, save where they attend, pursuant to Standing Orders, as a substitute for an absent member (or for a substitute not in attendance);
(4) the Joint Committee shall report to both Houses of the Oireachtas on the matters contained in paragraph (2) within nine months of the first public meeting of the Joint Committee;
(5) the quorum of the Joint Committee shall be four, at least one of whom shall be a member of Dáil Éireann, and one a member of Seanad Éireann;
(6) the member of Dáil Éireann nominated by the Labour Party to serve on the Joint Committee shall be Chairperson; and
(7) the Joint Committee shall have the powers defined in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (9) and (10) of Standing Order 72.”