Skip to main content
Normal View

Gender Equality

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 31 March 2022

Thursday, 31 March 2022

Questions (353)

Holly Cairns

Question:

353. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Justice the steps she is taking to identify and address the gender pay disparity in her Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under her remit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17362/22]

View answer

Written answers

I am pleased to advise the Deputy that my Department recently published a gender pay gap report. This analysis looked at the gap in pay between men and women in the Department and its agencies for 2020. It provides valuable insights into pay disparity and a baseline upon which to measure future performance.

The analysis showed the unadjusted gender pay gap (straight comparison between the pay of men and women) is 9% for the Department and 8% for the agencies. The adjusted measure attempts to match up males and females across a range of measures, such as number of children and years of service, so that there is, as much as possible, a comparison of like with like. The adjusted gender pay gap is 4% for the Department and its agencies. The analysis highlights the impact of factors such as caring responsibilities on pay disparity, with the gap widening from 2% for employees with no children to 22% for employees with one child and 21% for employees with two children.

The full report can be found here: www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Department-of-Justice-Gender-Pay-Gap-Report.

The Department also published its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy in March 2022 and commits to creating a positive and inclusive work environment where we all feel our contribution is valued and our personal differences and circumstances are cherished and respected.

The Strategy prioritises three areas of focus for strategic impact:

- achieve better policy outcomes and improve the accessibility and quality of our services;

- support the development of a skilled and diverse workforce;

- build and embed a workplace culture which facilitates, supports and encourages contributions from all

Each of these strategic outcomes are underpinned by a number of actions which the Department will implement over the life of the EDI Strategy. Specifically, we will use the quantitative data in the Gender Pay Gap Report and do further qualitative work to understand why differences occur, not just in pay but potentially in career progression and opportunities for varied roles.

This data will also be important in the context of the development of the Department’s Blended Working policy which will be published in Q2, 2022. Blended working, as another flexible working arrangement will be available for both men and women and the Department is committed to monitoring any potential disparities including the gender pay gap in its future blended workplace.

Our EDI Strategy can be found at www.justice.ie/en/JELR/DoJ-EDI-Strategy-(Eng).pdf/Files/DoJ-EDI-Strategy-(Eng).pdf.

Top
Share