Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 March 2017
371. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she will take to address issues pertaining to the gender pay gap between men and women; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10940/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraPolicy responsibility for gender equality in employment remains with my colleagues the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality Frances Fitzgerald TD and her colleague David Stanton, TD Minister of State for Justice at the Department of Justice and Equality with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration, and Integration.
To that end, Minister of State Stanton is chairing the Strategy Committee to advise the Department of Justice and Equality on the preparation of the new National Women's Strategy. In the public consultation, the gender pay gap has emerged as an issue of concern to many respondents.
Under Section 10 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) have a statutory role to ' keep under review the adequacy and effectiveness of law and practice in the State relation to the protection of human rights and equality'.
With regards to my Department, in 2015 Ministers Richard Bruton and Ged Nash (then Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Minister for Business and Employment, respectively) wrote to the Low Pay Commission to report on the preponderance of women on the national minimum wage.
The report found only 5% of employees are on the National Minimum Wage. It is self-evident that men and women on the National Minimum Wage receive the same remuneration per hour - €9.25 per hour. However, 64.7% of employees on the National Minimum Wage are women. Reasons suggested by the report for this are; women tend to work part-time more often than men because of caring responsibilities, the cost of childcare and women are over-represented in the Accommodation and Food sector, which carries the greatest risk factor of being on the National Minimum Wage. The report was brought to Government and published in October 2016.
