Government approves amendments to gender pay gap legislation

The Government has approved amendments to forthcoming legislation on the gender pay gap that it says will strengthen enforcement.

Once implemented, the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill will require employers over a certain size to publish pay differences between female and male employees, including bonuses.

The proposed amendments will give a "more comprehensive" definition of public bodies affected by the laws, and give greater power to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) to make an application to the High Court for enforcement orders where deemed necessary.

The gender pay gap in Ireland in 2017 was calculated at 14.4 per cent, slightly lower than the EU average.

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Minister for Equality Roderic O’Gorman, who received Cabinet approval to make the amendments on Tuesday, said the Government was developing a “fairer economy”, a key part of which will be a further shrinking of the pay gap.

“We need to gain an accurate understanding of the gender pay gap to help address the root causes of the gender pay disparity between men and women. This Bill, once implemented, will bring us another step forward in achieving a more equal society for everyone,” he said.

Originally published in April 2019, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the last Dáil but was later restored.