Vol. 453 No. 6
6 Dr. Woods asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the reports, if any, he has received from the monitoring committee on the implementation of the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women, 1993; the number of times the monitoring committee has met; and the progress, if any, that has been made. [9734/95]
9 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the number of times the monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women has met; and the arrangements, if any, that have been made to produce the second report of the monitoring committee. [9765/95]
15 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the number of times the monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women has met; and the arrangements if any, that have been made to produce the second report of the monitoring committee. [9686/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 9 and 15 together.
The monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women met on one occasion prior to the publication of the first progress report in June 1994. Work on the publication of the second progress report is ongoing. Deputies will appreciate that given the number — 210, many of which have several component parts — and detail of the commission's recommendations a considerable amount of work and co-ordination with other Government Departments and outside bodies is required to produce a comprehensive overview of progress. Suggestions made recently by members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Women's Rights are being considered in compiling the report.
A meeting of the full monitoring committee is due to take place shortly. The interdepartmental committee, which was established in conjunction with the monitoring committee and consists of representatives of those Departments in whose remit the bulk of the recommendations fall, has had four meetings in the interim.
Did the Minister say that the main committee met once and the subcommittee met four times?
Yes.
One of the recommendations by the commission was that barriers to participation by women in employment programmes should be removed. This is particularly important as women are very anxious to participate in the community employment scheme. However, because of the way in which it is operated and the selection process, women who do not have an unemployment payment in their own right are unable to get on the scheme. This is a very clear discrimination. I appreciate the Minister's difficulties in that regard——
The Deputy's party introduced it.
Deputy Byrne and the Minister of state, Deputy Rabbitte, have been quiet lately. They have had a taste of their own medicine and it might be better in the long run if, like his colleague, Deputy Byrne remained quiet.
I am glad to hear the Deputy say that one of his party's schemes is discriminatory.
I was about to say that similar arrangements might be useful in this case. To get over the problem of lone parents it was decided that at least 10 per cent of the placements should be allocated to them. Will the Government allocate 10 per cent of places on community employment schemes to women? I appreciate that the Minister might have difficulties in opening up the scheme but the Government could make a start by allocating 10 per cent of places to women.
The recommendations in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women cover the gamut of virtually all Departments and any question referrable to the work of a particular Department should be addressed to the relevant Minister. My Department's role is merely to monitor what recommendations have been implemented, to report on an annual basis, etc. Approximately 60 of the 210 recommendations were implemented when the last report was produced in June 1994 and I hope the second report will be published this summer.
For the benefit of Deputy Byrne, many of them relate to the Department of Social Welfare.
Deputy Woods knows a great deal about the activities of the Department of Social Welfare, what was done in it, what could have been done in it and what may be done in it. On the particular scheme to which he referred, he should put down a question to the Minister for Social Welfare and discuss the issue with him.
Or the Minister for Enterprise and Employment.
Yes.
The Minister very kindly met the Members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Women's Rights and discussed with them the report and the recommendations made by the commission. Does he intend to follow through on the suggestion made at the meeting that the monitoring committee should report progress so that there is continuous monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations and an indication which recommendations are favoured by the Government and which are regarded as not being feasible? This would give us an idea of the guidelines the Government will follow. Does he agree that the monitoring comittee should meet more than once a year? An ongoing system of reporting progress might alleviate the necessity for the full committee to meet on a regular basis. We should have some way of monitoring what exactly is happening in this area.
The interdepartmental committee meets on a more frequent basis. The terms of reference of the monitoring committee are laid down by the Government. It is not true to say that all the recommendations in the report were adopted by the previous Government to whom the report was presented. Recommendations come up for consideration on an ad hoc basis from time to time, possibly following recommendations from the interdepartmental committee to the monitoring committee or whoever. It is not a question of earmarking all or any of the recommendations for attention by any Government within any particular timescale. They are guidelines. I imagine the second commission's report will be a reference work on the subject of gender equality for some time to come. It is interesting that substantial progress has been made. Almost 60 of the 210 recommendations were implemented by June 1994 and I expect further progress has been made since then. We can have a look at it following the publication of the next report with a view to ascertaining what progress is being made on the various issues.
The monitoring committee was set up in 1993, according to the Minister's reply it met only once in the intervening period and will meet again shortly, "shortly" could mean any time. Will the Minister agree it is an appalling record that the monitoring committee has met only once? Is there a problem in relation to resources and why has the committee not met on a regular basis?
No, the monitoring committee met, as necessary, to finalise the June 1994 report, during the currency of the previous Government. The interdepartmental committee — made up of departmental representatives — which examines various recommendations in the report and considers those that may be appropriate for implementation within a particular timescale, met on four occasions. The full monitoring committee will meet again shortly in connection with the finalisation of the 1995 report. That is quite acceptable and appropriate; that is how it was envisaged to work and is an ongoing process. Implementation of many of these recommendations will take time; some can be implemented more speedily than others; some depend on the availability of resources and that can vary from Government to Government and from budget to budget but appreciable progress is being made in connection with it.
Is there a problem with resources?
There is no problem with resources as far as the monitoring committee and the interdepartmental committee are concerned but there may be a budgetary problem with resources in so far as implementing a particular recommendation might be concerned. As the Deputy is aware, that varies from budget to budget depending on the circumstances at a particular time and the resources in the various Departments which have responsibility for dealing with the subject matter of the recommendations. All Departments of State have a role to play in connection with matters coming within the ambit of their Department referred to in the commission's report which covers virtually the whole spectrum of human activity and, consequently, all Government Departments are affected by it.
In this question we should separate policy from the nuts and bolts of what the monitoring committee is doing. Nobody is suggesting that the monitoring committee has anything to do with specific areas of policy in relation to the recommendations of the commission. Will the Minister give us the date for publication of the next report so that we can ascertain exactly what progress has been made? Nobody will say that the 210 recommendations can be implemented instantly or that a timescale could be suggested. It would be helpful if the Minister indicates whether he intends to act on the advice of the Joint Committee on Women's Rights in relation to reporting progress.
The Joint Committee on Women's Rights made certain suggestions regarding the format of the 1995 report. As I said in my reply, I am considering its suggestions which will also be considered by the monitoring committee when it meets shortly.
From what the Minister said it appears it is intended that the monitoring committee will meet only once a year. Will the Minister agree that this is totally inadequate and indicates a lack of urgency in this area? Even if, as Deputy Keogh said, it is not possible to implement all the recommendations or any recommendations in toto, the monitoring committee may be able to make proposals which would be helpful to the Minister in the interim and to the Government. I suggest the monitoring committee should meet at least four times per year and, as the Minister suggested, the interdepartmental committee can do the work in the meantime. Those people who have seen the policies and ideas outlined in the report of the Second Commission on the Status of Women must be disappointed that the monitoring committee meets so infrequently. I ask the Minister to consider a more active programme for the monitoring committee.
I take Deputy Woods's point. The interdepartmental committee meets more frequently. I will consider more frequent meetings than heretofore for the monitoring committee. The ongoing work of examination is the responsibility of the interdepartmental committee as the Government representatives who assemble the recommendations for Government. Its role is crucial and I will take into account the comments made by the Deputy.
