Stormont committee postpones Equality Commission grilling after it says it can't answer certain questions
The equality watchdog at the centre of a legal row over a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman has had an appearance in front of a Stormont committee to give evidence on the matter postponed.
MLAs on the Executive Office (TEO) committee agreed to delay an evidence session with the Equality Commission (ECNI) in which they would have faced questions on the implications of the ruling in Northern Ireland.
A majority on the scrutiny body, with the exception of the TUV’s Timothy Gaston, agreed to postpone the “in light of ongoing sub judice issues”.
Last year, the UK’s top court ruled that terms such as men and women were defined by biological sex, rather than someone’s self-perceived gender identity.
ECNI Chief Commissioner Geraldine McGahey said that sex might not mean the same thing in NI as it does in the rest of the UK.
The body is now seeking the view of the High Court in Belfast on how Article 2 of the Windsor Framework affects the legal situation here.
The ECNI boss has previously said she is “impatient for change” on implementing the framework’s equality provisions in the province.
While ECNI has dodged giving clear guidance on the full implications of the ruling – it has issued “interim information” which avoided settings such as schools “where facilities are provided separately based on sex”.
On Wednesday afternoon, the TEO committee agreed to postpone to allow for “a full discussion” at a later date.
This was opposed by Timothy Gaston, who said the organisation had played an “active role in issuing interim guidance” – and that MLAs should have been given a chance to ask questions, whether or not ECNI chose to answer them.
DUP MLA Phillip Brett said he supported the postponement as ECNI had made clear they would only answer certain questions, and MLAs would be in a better place to question them in future.
An ECNI spokesperson said it was “fully intending” to attend the meeting, but had always made it clear that, “due to ongoing legal proceedings including a court review the previous day, there may be limitations on the detail we could provide”. They said ECNI “remains available” for a rescheduled meeting.