Gender Pay Gap Bill expected to become law in Autumn

The Deputy Secretary General at the Department of Justice spoke yesterday about the broad value to the Irish workplace of forthcoming laws to address our gender pay gap. At a CIPD Ireland event, Oonagh Buckley told delegates: “It’s not just about equality. It’s also about making sure you’re tapping from the full talent pool, improving diversity across the company, stopping groupthink – it’s about making your business better, as much as it is about equality”.

Oonagh Buckley was addressing the event aimed at CIPD Ireland members, entitled ‘Diversity and Gender Pay Gap’ at UCD today, where the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019 was up for discussion.

Delegates heard that the Bill will probably be enacted in the Autumn, once it gets approval in the Oireachtas after the Summer recess. Companies could also expect to have several months once the legislation is enacted before they are expected to comply.

Senior official at the Department of Justice and Equality John Hurley also noted the consultations that the Department had done to this point. He emphasised that while to date there appeared to be broad public and Oireachtas support for the proposals, there were still issues of detail to be settled in the implementing regulations. These would also be the subject of public consultations, to help ensure people are ready when the reporting period starts.

Director of CIPD Ireland, Mary Connaughton said: “We were delighted to have Oonagh and John with us today to meet our members face to face and take questions about this crucial legislation. It’s important to us that our members have their concerns heard. We welcome the fact that work is ongoing on a number of areas on which we’ve raised concerns, and look forward to working with the government on the introduction of the new system”.

One of the concerns raised by CIPD Ireland centres on how and where companies will submit their reports once they’ve been compiled. Today’s event heard it’s expected that a central website will be made available for report submissions, while companies could also be required to put the information on their own respective websites.

Policy Advisor with CIPD in the UK, Charles Cotton also outlined for the audience how the system has been progressing there, in the two years since legislation was introduced.