THE President, Mrs Robinson, will announce today whether she will refer the Employment Equality Bill, or a section of it, to the Supreme Court for a test of its constitutionality, Mark Brennock reports.
The Bill, designed to outlaw discrimination in employment, was recently passed by the Oireachtas and must be either signed into law or referred to the Supreme Court by today.
There has been controversy over a section which allows religious, educational and medical institutions to give favourable treatment to employees on religious grounds, "to maintain the religious ethos of the institution."
Teachers' unions and civil liberties groups have objected to this exemption. But Catholic bishops and educational leaders have warned that the future of Catholic education would be jeopardised if the exemption was not retained.