Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 November 2022
264. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised website and portal includes overall breakdowns and averages of the gender pay gap across all of those required to report (>250 employees); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58524/22]
View answer265. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised website and portal includes breakdowns and averages of the gender pay gap for those required to report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58525/22]
View answer266. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised website provides a summary list by employer of the size of the gender pay gap by each of the different measures on which businesses are required to report, and to make it easy to track those who are above and below the average; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58526/22]
View answer267. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised website provides a summary of the size of the gender pay gap over time by employer to capture whether there is any change over time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58527/22]
View answer268. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the resources that will be provided by the Government to develop the reporting website; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58528/22]
View answer269. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if compliance with the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 will be monitored; if compliance will be monitored by his Department or by the establishment of a separate body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58529/22]
View answer270. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department has a complete list of all businesses required to report their gender pay gap to enable it to best track compliance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58530/22]
View answer271. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a register of employers that have not complied with the requirements to publish their gender pay gap will be available to the public on the centralised website; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58531/22]
View answer274. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised portal for gender pay gap information will include overall breakdowns and averages of the gender pay gap across companies required to report; by sector, occupation and income decile. [58640/22]
View answer275. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised gender pay gap information website will provide a summary list by employer of the size of the gender pay gap by each of the different measures on which businesses are required to report; and if it will provide a means to track those that are above and below the national average. [58641/22]
View answer276. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the centralised gender pay gap information website will provide a summary of the size of the gender pay gap over time by employer to capture the change, if any, that takes place. [58642/22]
View answer277. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding dedicated to developing the gender pay gap information reporting website; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58643/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 274, 275, 276 and 277 together.
Regulations have been made under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 which enable reporting in 2022. The Regulations require organisations with over 250 employees to report on their gender pay gap in 2022. Employers were required to choose a ‘snapshot’ date in June 2022 and to base their reporting on the employees they have on that date. Employers have six months from that date to make the relevant calculations and prepare their report, which should be published on the equivalent date in December 2022. The Regulations also require employers to publish a statement setting out, in the employers’ opinion, the reasons for the gender pay gap in their company and what measures are being taken or proposed to be taken by the employer to eliminate or reduce that pay gap.
Employers will be required to publish their report and statement in a manner easily accessible to the public, such as on their website.
Measures concerning enforcement of reporting obligations by relevant employers are provided for in Section 3 of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, which inserted new sections 85B and 85C in the Employment Equality Act 1998. Section 85B enables the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, to apply to the Circuit Court or the High Court for an order requiring a person to comply with the regulations. A person who fails to comply with a Court order is in contempt of that Court. Section 85C allows for an employee to make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, of non-compliance with reporting regulations by their employer. The Director General of the WRC or an adjudication officer, to whom one would expect this function will be delegated, will investigate the complaint if satisfied that there is a prima facie case. If, on investigation, the officer finds in favour of the complainant, he or she may make an order requiring the employer to take a specified course of action in order to comply. Enforcement of WRC orders is through the District Court.
The Department does not maintain a list of individual employers required to report and does not have a role under the legislation in enforcing compliance.
Future regulations made under the Act may provide for a central website on to which employers will be required to upload their information. Such a system is not in place for the 2022 reporting cycle.
Plans are in place to develop an online reporting system for future reporting cycles. The specification of this system is at an early stage of development. It is envisaged that it would provide for the publication of employers' reports as specified in the Regulations, and reports for previous years as specified in the Regulations. The necessary costs will be assessed in the development of any tender.
Aggregate statistics for employers reporting gender pay gap information will not be produced on this system. Statistical information on the gender pay gap in Ireland is published by Eurostat from data provided periodically by the Central Statistics Office and available disaggregated by sector (NACE Rev.1.1 and Rev.2 activity), age class, public or private ownership of organisation, and fulltime or part-time working.
